Meskwaki and Anthropologists

M. Daubenmier Judith

Description

The Meskwaki and Anthropologists illuminates how the University of Chicago’s innovative Action Anthropology program of ethnographic fieldwork affected the Meskwaki Indians of Iowa. From 1948 to 1958, the Meskwaki community near Tama, Iowa, became effectively a testing ground for a new method of practicing anthropology proposed by anthropologists and graduate students at the University of Chicago in response to pressure from the Meskwaki. Action Anthropology, as the program was called, attempted to more evenly distribute the benefits of anthropology by way of anthropologists helping the Native communities they studied.

The legacy of Action Anthropology has received limited attention, but even less is known about how the Meskwakis participated in creating it and shaping the way it functioned. Drawing on interviews and extensive archival records, Judith M. Daubenmier tells the story from the viewpoint of the Meskwaki themselves. The Meskwaki alternatively cooperated with, befriended, ignored, prodded, and collided with their scholarly visitors in trying to get them to understand that the values of reciprocity within Meskwaki culture required people to give something if they expected to get something. Daubenmier sheds light on the economic and political impact of the program on the community and how some Meskwaki manipulated the anthropologists and students through their own expectations of reciprocity and gender roles. Giving weight to the opinions, actions, and motivations of the Meskwaki, Daubenmier assesses more fully and appropriately the impact of Action Anthropology on the Meskwaki settlement and explores its legacy outside the settlement’s confines. In so doing, she also encourages further consideration of the ongoing relationships between scholars and Indigenous peoples today.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USA
• Indigenous peoples
• History of the Americas
• États-Unis
• Iowa

Informations

• Publié par: Nebraska
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780803218741
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Meskwaki and Anthropologists

Critical Studies in the History of Anthropology

Series Editors r e gn a da r n e l l st ephe n o. m u r r ay

The Meskwaki and Anthropologists Action Anthropology Reconsidered

Judith M. Daubenmier

u n i v e r si t y of n e br a sk a pr e s s • l on d ona n d l i nc ol n

©2008by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Daubenmier, Judith M. The Meskwaki and anthropologists : Action Anthropology reconsidered / Judith M. Daubenmier.  p. cm. — (Critical studies in the history of anthropology) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn978-0-8032-1732-4(cloth : alk. paper) 1Indians. Fox — Iowa — Social conditions — 20th century. 2. Ethnology — Fieldwork — Iowa — History — 20th century. 3Anthropology (Program). Action — Influence. I. Title. e99.f7d382008 977.70497314 — dc22 2008007108

Set in Charlotte by Bob Reitz. Designed by Ray Boeche.

To Mike

Contents

 Acknowledgments

 Series Editors’ Introduction

 Introduction

1the Modern Meskwaki Nation. Making

2. Sol Tax and the Value of Anthropology

3. “Science Has to Stop Somewhere”

4Anthropology and the Values Question. Action

5.1954—Project Nadir and Rebound

6. Fruits of Action Anthropology

 Epilogue

 Appendix1:Participants in University of  Chicago Project at Tama, Iowa,1948 – 1958

 Appendix2:Publications Related to Meskwaki

 Notes

 Bibliography

 Index

ix

xi

1

29

64

109

154

189

227

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309

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383

405

Acknowledgments

Having grown up in Iowa, I drove by the Meskwaki settlement near Tama, Iowa, countless times. Although curious about the people who lived there, I knew little more than that they held a powwow every year. Never did I dream I would one day write a book about—and with—them. Life’s journey, however, takes us places we never imag- ined. For that, I am grateful. When I finally did visit the settlement as a graduate student work- ing on my dissertation, I was fortunate to meet many knowledgeable people willing to help me. I am especially grateful to the people at the Meskwaki Senior Center, who were so hospitable to me during my visits to the settlement. Thank you for being patient with my ig- norance and enduring so many questions from thismukuman. Special thanks are due to Johnathan Buffalo, tribal historian for the Meskwaki settlement, and to Suzanne Wanatee. I value your in- sights and your friendship. Since this work is based on my dissertation, the debts I owe for its completion extend back to graduate school at the University of Michigan. I am indebted to Maria Montoya, my adviser, who percep- tively steered me toward the archive of the Fox Project after I stum- bled across Frederick Gearing’s bookFace of the Foxand who chaired my dissertation committee. I also am grateful to the other members of my committee: John Carson, Philip Deloria, Gregory Dowd, and Richard I. Ford. Your support and encouragement kept me going during the months-long marathon of dissertation writing. Many suggestions made after my dissertation was finished also found their way into this book.