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John L. Steckley and Bryan D. Cummins
Toronto, ON: Prentice Hall, 2001, 274 pages.
As the literature continues to mount in the field of First Nations studies, it is to be expected that new approaches to describing the Indigenous peoples of Canada will appear. This book is no exception in that Steckley and Cummins have undertaken the difficult challenge of trying to cover everything in a relatively short space.
Full Circle: Canada's First Nations is designed as an introductory textbook for college students, but it may be a bit overmarketed. The authors attempt to tackle such vast parameters of the field that they necessarily have to give short shrift to important subjects. This approach makes the text more suitable to the high school level where survey-type texts are more readily appreciated. To illustrate this point one has only to examine the content of the 25 chapters. As I point out, many significant events and subjects are treated only in passing. Principally, the book is divided into five major parts: Part 1, Origins and Oral Traditions; Part 2, Culture Areas; Part 3, Legal Definitions; Part 4, Effects of Colonialism; and Part 5, Contemporary Debates and Social Action.
Part 1 deals with the origins of Aboriginal cultures in Canada, mercifully...