Indigenous Memory, Urban Reality - by Michelle R Jacobs

About the Book

"Drawing on ethnographic research, this book explores different experiences of urban Native identity across two pan-Indian communities in NE Ohio. In addition to elucidating how false memories of Indian-ness invisibilize and overwrite the stories and identities of urban Indigenous people, this research reveals the significance of continuous relations with tribal nations to the persistence of Indigenous peoples and perspectives in twenty-first century US society"--

Book Synopsis

Contemporary accounts of urban Native identity in two pan-Indian communities

In the last half century, changing racial and cultural dynamics in the United States have caused an explosion in the number of people claiming to be American Indian, from just over half a million in 1960 to over three million in 2013. Additionally, seven out of ten American Indians live in or near cities, rather than in tribal communities, and that number is growing.

In Indigenous Memory, Urban Reality, Michelle Jacobs examines the new reality of the American Indian urban experience. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted over two and a half years, Jacobs focuses on how some individuals are invested in reclaiming Indigenous identities whereas others are more invested in relocating their sense of self to the urban environment. These groups not only apply different meanings to indigeneity, but they also develop different strategies for asserting and maintaining Native identities in an urban space inundated with false memories and fake icons of "Indian-ness." Jacobs shows that "Indianness" is a highly contested phenomenon among these two groups: some are accused of being "wannabes" who merely "play Indian," while others are accused of being exclusionary and "policing the boundaries of Indianness." Taken together, the interconnected stories of relocators and reclaimers expose the struggles of Indigenous and Indigenous-identified participants in urban pan-Indian communities. Indigenous Memory, Urban Reality offers a complicated portrait of who can rightfully claim and enact American Indian identities and what that tells us about how race is "made" today.

Review Quotes

"A rich, qualitative exploration of the experiences of urban Indians in Northeast Ohio, specifically their struggles maintaining Native identities, Indigenous practices, and connections to their tribes of origin in the face of settler-colonial constructed understandings of Indianness ranging from invisibility to racist caricatures."-- "American Journal of Sociology"

"Indigenous Memory, Urban Reality richly documents identity formation, social boundaries, and the processes of 'making' race as they unfold in one Midwestern urban Indigenous community. The book does so with vital attention to settler colonialism's role in forming, maintaining, and reproducing Indigenous identity. We can never discount settler colonialism's impact on Indigenous lives, nor experiences of marginalization more generally. Jacobs opens the door for many different lines of inquiry across cultural sociology, urban studies, and race and ethnicity.""-- "Sociology of Race and Ethnicity"

"Jacobs (Wayne State Univ.) has written a splendid analysis of contemporary urban Indigenous and Indigenous-identifying residents in the area around Cleveland, OH, living under the conditions of white domination . . . Jacobs combines sociological categories and vignettes of over 30 people to examine the complexity of these two groups' identities."-- "C. T. Vecsey, Colgate University"

"Jacobs writes on the erasure of Indigenous Peoples and Urban Indians from deeply informed research and personal experience that shows us how settler discourse and dominant paradigms still operate to marginalize and silence Native voices and perspectives, particularly on mascotry issues, identity claims and internal politics....Jacobs reflects the diversity of Native people and Indigenous identity issues with professional accuracy and intercultural awareness."-- "James V. Fenelon, author of Redskins?: Sport Mascots, Indian Nations and White Racism"

"Through narration and sociological analyses, Jacobs offers the reader fascinating accounts of both Indigenous memories and urban realities for Native people living in Northeast Ohio. The voices in Jacobs' accessible and informative book speak to the importance of ancestry, spirituality, homelands, powwows, and organizations in contemporary Indigenous America which she shows in all of its complexity, contradictions, and community."-- "Joane Nagel, author of Race, Ethnicity, and Sexuality: Intimate Intersections, Forbidden Frontiers"

"Why is racial formation theory insufficient to explain the complexities of urban Indigenous identity today? Sociologists have been far too slow to engage theories of settler-colonialism or to take seriously the experiences of Indigenous peoples in their own terms. Drawing on detailed interviews and observations and situating her analyses across multiple vectors of historical experience, Jacobs presents a view of the complexities of contemporary Indigenous identity that beautifully bridges key conversations in sociology and Indigenous studies."-- "Kari Marie Norgaard, author Salmon and Acorns Feed Our People: Nature Colonialism and Social Action"

About the Author

Michelle R. Jacobs is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Wayne State University.