The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was the US government’s attempt to define who “Indians” were. Among the criteria the act set was a blood quantum, which declared that “Indians” were "all other persons of one-half or more Indian blood". Today, many tribes wrestle with the legacy of blood quantum and “Indian” identity, as they work to manage tribal enrollment and social services. As the bloodlines grow increasingly diluted, within a few generation, recognized tribes might legally disappear.
Through essays, personal stories, case studies, satire, and poetry, The Great Vanishing Act brings together writers from around the world to explore the biological and cultural metaphor of blood quantum, the most critical issue facing Indigenous populations in the twenty-first century.
Author(s): Norbert Hill Jr., Kathleen Ratteree
Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
Year: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 350
City: Golden
Front
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Half Title
Contents
Foreword
Dr. Henrietta Mann
Preface
Kathleen Ratteree and Norbert Hill
Part 1: Cultural Metaphor
Love in the Time of Blood Quantum
Adrienne Keene
It’s in the Blood, and in the Earth – Haudenosaunee Descent and Identity
Richard Hill
Good Guidance
Leslie Logan
Walking in Two Worlds: The Native American College Experience
Olivia Hoeft
Trickster Teaches the Prairie Dogs How to Disenroll Their Members
Robert Chanate
Fraction of Love
Reed Bobroff
Bloodflow
Reed Bobroff
Part 2: Decolonizing History
Vampire Policy Is Bleeding Us Dry – Blood Quantums, Be Gone!
Suzan Shown Harjo
Bleeding Out: Histories and Legacies of “Indian Blood”
Doug Kiel
Decolonizing Colonial Constructions of Indigenous Identity: A Conversation between Debra Harry and Leonie Pihama
Debra Harry and Leonie Pihama
Race and Sovereignty
Julia Coates
Part 3: Decolonizing Biology and Demography
Twentieth Century Tribal Blood Politics: Policy, Place, and Descent
Kim TallBear
Who Counts? Indians and the U.S. Census
Russell Thornton
NDN DNA
Jessica Kolopenuk
(Re)Building the Lāhui (Hawaiian Nation)
Maile Taualii
Part 4: Policy, Law, and Nation Building
“Making Ourselves Whole with Words”: A Short History White Earth Anishinaabeg Tribal Citizenship Criteria
Jill Doerfler
Blood Quantum: The Mathematics of Ethnocide
David E. Wilkins and Shelly Hulse Wilkins
What Can Tribal Child Welfare Policy Teach Us about Tribal Citizenship?
Miriam Jorgensen, Adrian T. Smith, Terry Cross, and Sarah Kastelic
Blood Quantum: Fractionated Land, Fractionated People
Richard Monette
Reconsidering Blood Quantum Criteria for the Expansion of Tribal Jurisdiction
Rebecca M. Webster
Blood, Identity, and the Ainu Society in Contemporary Japan
Yuka Mizutani
Part 5: Where to Go from Here? Moving Forward
From Tribal Members to Native Nation Citizens
Stephen Cornell and Joseph P. Kalt
We Chose This, Now What? What Comes after Blood Quantum?
Gyasi Ross
Applying Indigenous Values to Contemporary Tribal Citizenship: Challenge and Opportunity
LaDonna Harris, Kathryn Harris Tijerina, and Laura Harris
Contributor Biographies
About the Editors
