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A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood Kim Anderson, Toronto, ON: Second Story Press, 2000 Reviewed by Shannon Simpson
In A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood, Kim Anderson explores the experiences, issues, and realities of being a Native woman in past and contemporary settings. A Recognition of Being is written as a journey. After personally situating herself, Anderson then provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of the history of Native women. Although careful not to imply that she is talking about all Native women's experiences, she focuses on the many commonalities experienced by Native women in the past and in current situations. The racist notions of Native women perpetuated in present-day realities are discussed in detail. Anderson goes further and uses four main areas to discuss her ideas about contemporary Native women and obtaining a positive identity. Anderson maintains that Native women must: resist negative definitions of being; reclaim Aboriginal tradition;
construct a positive identity by translating traditions into the contemporary context; and act on that identity in a way that nourishes the overall well-being of our communities.
With this framework set out, the book flows easily from section to...