Showing titles in Indigenous Studies

Flight is the hilarious and tragic story of an orphaned Indian boy - "Zits" - who travels back and forth through time in a charged search for his true identity. With powerful, swift prose, Flight follows the troubled teenager as he learns that violence is not the answer.

One cannot turn on the news today without a report on an extreme-weather event or the latest update on Antarctica. But while our politicians argue, the truth is that climate change is already here. Nobody knows this better than Indigenous peoples, who, having developed an intimate relationship with ecosystems over generations, have observed these changes for decades. For them, climate change is not an abstract concept or policy issue, but the reality of daily life.

In May 2021, the world was shocked by news of the detection of 215 unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS) in British Columbia, Canada. Ground-penetrating radar confirmed the vestiges of children as young as three on this site of the infamous residential school system, which systematically removed children from their families and brought them to the schools.

Andrea Currie was born into a Metis family with a strong lineage of warriors, land protectors, writers, artists, and musicians—all of which was lost to her when she was adopted as an infant into a white family with no connection to her people. It was 1960, and the Sixties Scoop was in full swing. Together with her younger adopted brother, also Metis, she struggled through her childhood, never feeling like she belonged in that world. When their adoptions fell apart during their teen years, the two siblings found themselves on different paths, yet they stayed connected.

Richard Wagamese, one of Canada’s most celebrated Indigenous authors and storytellers, was a writer of breathtaking honesty and inspiration. Always striving to be a better, stronger person, Wagamese shared his journey through writing, encouraging others to do the same. Following the success of Embers, this new collection of Wagamese’s nonfiction works, curated by editor Drew Hayden Taylor, brings together more of the prolific author’s short writings - many for the first time in print - and celebrates his ability to inspire.

Author Mark Plotkin, chief ethnobotanist for Conservation International, has spent much of the past 15 years tracking the shamans of the northeast Amazon. Their knowledge of healing plants may hold the cure to some of today's most devastating diseases. This book is a critically acclaimed account of his apprenticeship to these powerful wise men, a gripping journey into a wild and wonderful world seldom glimpsed by outsiders.

The Inconvenient Indian is at once a “history” and the complete subversion of a history - in short, a critical and personal meditation that the remarkable Thomas King has conducted over the past 50 years about what it means to be “Indian” in North America. Rich with dark and light, pain and magic, this book distills the insights gleaned from that meditation, weaving the curiously circular tale of the relationship between non-Natives and Natives in the centuries since the two first encountered each other.

His mother called him “Bobby Mountain.” Elders called him “Great Man.” His people called him “Chief.” Oil men called him “Mr. Cree.” But the government called him “Number 53.” Robert Cree was all of these while facing his people’s oppressors and freeing the ghosts of tortured spirits. The Many Names of Robert Cree is his first-person account of survival in a brutally racist residential school system designed to erase traditional Indigenous culture, language, and knowledge.

Our eyes have been drawn away from the skies to our screens. We no longer look to the stars to forecast the weather, predict the seasons or plant our gardens. Most of us cannot even see the Milky Way. But First Nations Elders around the world still maintain this knowledge, and there is much we can learn from them. Guided by six First Nations Elders, Duane Hamacher takes us on a journey across space and time to reveal the wisdom of the first astronomers.

In this mother-daughter memoir, Samantha and Myrna each share their journeys of breaking down barriers and the redemptive power of love. Inspiring and honest, Role Model is the story of two proud Dunghutti women claiming their space and the path to greater representation, highlighting just how much can change in two generations.

A fierce and inspirational guide to Black resistance, resilience, and healing, using the principles of Afro-Indigenous spiritual practices Understanding where you came from is crucial to understand where you are going. The Five Blessings of Ifá explores how Black communities across the diaspora...

From Shawn Leonard, Indigenous medium and host of Spirit Talker, comes a guide for assembling your unique team of spirit totem animal guides to be your personal guides through your life. We are deeply connected to the animal nation, and through the four stages of life—Childhood, Youth...

Historia de los Charrúas y demás tribus indígenas del Uruguay", de Orestes Araújo, es una monografía etnográfica e histórica fascinante que desentraña el mundo de los antiguos habitantes del Uruguay, centrándose en la belicosa tribu charrúa y sus vecinas: arachanes, bohanes, yaros, guenoas, minuanes y chans. Basado en relatos de exploradores como Félix de Azara y crónicas coloniales, el libro describe el paisaje templado y fértil del territorio oriental, con sus ríos, cuchillas y fauna abundante, que moldeó la vida nómada de estos pueblos guerreros.

Leading Binnizá and Maya Ch'orti' scientist Jessica Hernandez, PhD, weaves together Indigenous knowledge, environmental science, and personal family stories in her highly anticipated follow-up to the LA Times best-seller Fresh Banana Leaves. Not every environmental problem is a result of...

We are all indigenous to the planet Earth - and that is why each of us can benefit from indigenous wisdom. Throughout their history, the Lakota people developed many enduring insights and practices for achieving harmony with all the forces in our life - including the land, the spirits, our community, and ourselves.

A Lakota prophecy tells of a day when Westeners will join Native wisdom-keepers to create a new, integrated vision of healing. Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona believes that day has arrived. With The Spirit of Healing, this physician and lifelong student of Native American spirituality invites you to discover healing practices informed by both modern medical and psychiatric knowledge, and the "narrative medicine" of tradtional healers.

While Western medicine often sees healthcare as a battle against a disease or injury, Native American tradition holds that true healing come through dialogue - with our afflictions, our spirititual allies, and our own innate wisdom. With gentle guidance and a rich understanding of tribal medicine, Dr. Mehl-Madrona offers you essential practices for tapping into the resources of the spirit world with Native American healing meditations.

North America was not empty nor were its inhabitants savages when Europeans arrived in 1492. Quite the opposite, North America was thickly populated by indigenous people who lived in clean cities, had a thriving economy, and transformed the landscape into bountiful productivity. Forgotten Landscapes reveals the incredible extent to which Native Americans manipulated and shaped their surrounding environs through agricultural practices and urban engineering, resulting in one of the most prosperous civilizations of their time.

“This incendiary j’accuse isn’t afraid to name names.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review “Indigeneity is caught between truth tellers and tricksters.…Dina Gilio-Whitaker boldly espouses our truths while confronting the tricksters among us. Indigenous America needs more truth...

Cheated is a gripping story of single-minded politicians, uncompromising Indian Affairs officials, grasping government appointees, and well-connected Liberal speculators, set against a backdrop of politics, power, patronage, and profit. The Laurier government's settlement of western Canada can never be looked at the same way again.