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American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Red Power and the Resurgence of Identity and Culture. By Joane Nagel. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. xvi + 298 pp., tables, notes, references, index. $45.00 cloth.)
Joane Nagel has crafted an excellent survey of issues, events, and processes involved in recent Native American ethnicity. Her topic is difficult, not only because of the diversity of approaches and relative abundance of existing literature but also because of the heat invariably generated by any analysis of ethnicity. The book is divided into three parts. The first is a theoretical/conceptual overview of ethnic and cultural renascence, ending with a multifaceted descriptive model. The second traces the specifics of the dynamics of ethnicity among Native Americans. The third reconsiders both the data and the model.
Nagel assumes from the outset that ethnic identity is largely constructed, and thus dynamic: it is not a pristine, unchanging condition, no matter what its adherents or others might claim or wish. She argues that ethnic attributes are a product of a dynamic between the actions of individuals and groups (agency) and the larger sociocultural systems within which they are situated (structures). The analytical...