Indians in the Making : Ethnic Relations and Indian Identities Around Puget Sound

In the Puget Sound region of Washington state, indigenous peoples and their descendants have a long history of interaction with settlers and their descendants. __Indians in the Making__ offers the first comprehensive account of these interactions, from contact with traders of the 1820s to the Indian fishing rights activism of the 1970s. In this thoroughly researched history, Alexandra Harmon also provides a theoretically sophisticated analysis that charts shifting notions of Indian identity, both in native and in nonnative communities. During the period under consideration, each major shift in demographic, economic, and political conditions precipitated new deliberations about how to distinguish Indians from non-Indians and from each other. By chronicling such dialogues over 150 years, this groundbreaking study reveals that Indian identity has a complex history. Examining relations in various spheres of life—labor, public ceremony, marriage and kinship, politics and law—Harmon shows how Indians have continually redefined themselves. Her focus on the negotiations that have given rise to modern Indian identity makes a significant contribution to the discourse of contemporary multiculturalism and ethnic studies. Frontmatter List of Maps (page ix) Acknowledgments (page xi) INTRODUCTION (page 1) 1. FUR TRADERS AND NATIVES: EMPOWERING ENCOUNTERS (page 13) 2. SETTLERS AND INDIANS: INTERTWINED PEOPLES (page 43) 3. TREATIES AND WAR: EPHEMERAL LINES OF DEMARCATION (page 72) 4. REFORMERS AND INDIANS: RESERVATIONS ABOUT RESERVATIONS (page 103) 5. INDIANS: DIALOGUES ABOUT DEFINITIONS (page 131) 6. INDIANS AND THE UNITED STATES: WARDSHIP OR FRIENDSHIP? (page 160) 7. TRIBES: NEW AND OLD ORGANIZATIONS (page 190) 8. TREATY FISHING RIGHTS: AN EMBLEM UNFURLED (page 218) AFTERWORD (page 245) Notes (page 251) Bibliography (page 345) Index (page 373) In the Puget Sound region of Washington state, indigenous peoples and their descendants have a history of interaction with settlers and their descendants. This text offers an account of these interactions, from contact with traders of the 1820s to the Indian fishing rights activism of the 1970s.