The Great Vanishing Act: Blood Quantum and the Future of Native Nations

Description

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.  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