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Daniel M. Cobb, ed. Say We Are Nations: Documents of Politics and Protest in Indigenous America since 1887. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015. 316 pp. Paper, $29.95.
In Say We Are Nations, Daniel Cobb, an associate professor in American studies at the University of North Carolina, has compiled a collection of fifty-five primary documents about politics and protest in Indian Coun- try since 1887. Building on his earlier publications, including the edited collection Beyond Red Power and Native Activism in the Cold War, Cobb demonstrates an expansive definition of activism and the historical practice of protest. Cobb describes the selected texts as representing a "geographic, topical, temporal, and interpretive breadth" and invites readers to continue "intellectual excavation" of politics and protest (5). The politically purposeful actions demonstrated in the documents firmly illustrate individuals' positionality in relation to other forms of activism and the social discussion, debate, and discord within the Indigenous community. Cobb meticulously traces the historical connections and social networks of community members. Further, he brings attention to the various approaches and language utilized to garner greater understanding and support from non-Indians. For example, Cobb describes the process of some community members utilizing the Cold War political environment and construction of "American" to publicly frame opposition to their calls for equality as un-American.
This compilation, which is chronologically and thematically arranged and divided into five chapters ("Contesting Citizenship, 1887-1924," "Reclaiming a Future, 1934-1954," "Demanding Civil Rights of a Different Order, 1954-1968," "Declaring Continuing Independence, 1969-1994," and "Testing the...