Sovereign Entrepreneurs: Cherokee Small-Business Owners and the Making of Economic Sovereignty (Critical Indigeneities)

By 2009, reverberations of economic crisis spread from the United States around the globe. As corporations across the United States folded, however, small businesses on the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) continued to thrive. In this rich ethnographic study, Courtney Lewis reveals the critical roles small businesses such as these play for Indigenous nations. The EBCI has an especially long history of incorporated, citizen-owned businesses located on their lands. When many people think of Indigenous-owned businesses, they stop with prominent casino gaming operations or natural-resource intensive enterprises. But on the Qualla Boundary today, Indigenous entrepreneurship and economic independence extends to art galleries, restaurants, a bookstore, a funeral parlor, and more. Lewis’s fieldwork followed these businesses through the Great Recession and against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding EBCI-owned casino. Lewis's keen observations reveal how Eastern Band small business owners have contributed to an economic sovereignty that empowers and sustains their nation both culturally and politically. "[A] study of small businesses and small business owners who are members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). The EBCI has an especially long history of incorporated, citizen-owned businesses located on their reservation. Many people stop with casinos or natural-resource intensive enterprise when they think of Indigenous-owned businesses, but on Qualla Boundary today, Indigenous entrepreneurship and economic independence extends to art galleries, restaurants, a bookstore, a funeral parlor, and more. Lewis's fieldwork followed these businesses before and after the Great Recession, and against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding Cherokee-owned casino. From this source base, Lewis reveals how these EBCI businesses have contributed to an economic sovereignty that empowers and sustains their nation both culturally and politically. This is a generative concept that helps to define what a distinctly Indigenous form of entrepreneurship looks like"-- Provided by publisher "[A] study of small businesses and small business owners who are members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). The EBCI has an especially long history of incorporated, citizen-owned businesses located on their reservation. Many people stop with casinos or natural-resource intensive enterprise when they think of Indigenous-owned businesses, but on Qualla Boundary today, Indigenous entrepreneurship and economic independence extends to art galleries, restaurants, a bookstore, a funeral parlor, and more. Lewis's fieldwork followed these businesses before and after the Great Recession, and against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding Cherokee-owned casino. From this source base, Lewis reveals how these EBCI businesses have contributed to an economic sovereignty that empowers and sustains their nation both culturally and politically. This is a generative concept that helps to define what a distinctly Indigenous form of entrepreneurship looks like"-- Résumé de l'éditeur By 2009, reverberations of economic crisis spread from the U.S. around the globe. As corporations across the U.S. folded, however, small businesses on the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) continued to thrive. In this rich ethnographic study, Courtney Lewis reveals the critical roles small businesses such as these play for Indigenous nations. Lewis's fieldwork followed several businesses through the Great Recession and against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding EBCI-owned casino. Lewis's keen observations reveal how Eastern Band small business owners have contributed to an economic sovereignty that empowers and sustains their nation both culturally and politically Economic Identities : Conceptions And Practices -- Tourism : Where Are The Indians? -- Bounding American Indian Businesses -- Pillars Of Sovereignty : The Case For Small Businesses In Economic Development -- Governmental Support For Indianpreneurs : Challenges And Conflicts. Courtney Lewis. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Electronic Reproduction. Baltimore, Md Available Via World Wide Web.