Osage and Settler: Reconstructing Shared History through an Oklahoma Family Archive

by Janet Berry Hess

Overview

Drawing on a rare family archive and archival material from the Osage Nation, this book documents a unique relationship among white settlers, the Osage and African Americans in Oklahoma. The history of white settlement and colonization is often discussed in the context of the cultural erasure of, and violence perpetuated against, American Indians and enslaved blacks. Conversely, histories of American Indian nations often end with colonial conquest, and exclude the experiences of white settlers. The author's anthropological approach examines the lived experience of individuals--including her own family members--and their nuanced and intersecting relationships as they negotiate cultural and geographic landscapes of oppression and technological change. The art, architecture, body ornamentation, sacred objects, ceremonies and performances accompanying this transformation are all addressed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476621173
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	06/08/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Janet Berry Hess teaches African, African American, and American Indian culture and gender studies at the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University.
Janet Berry Hess teaches African, African American, and American Indian culture and gender studies at the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
1. Osage Culture and European Arrival: Culture, Trade and Imperialism
2. Embodied Anthropology: Settlers, Osage and African Americans
3. The Settler, the Trader and the Cowboy
4. Architecture: The Church of Immaculate Conception and the One–Room School
5. The “Invisible World”: Wa–kon-da, Body Ornamentation and the Sacred Bundle
6. Turning the Century: The Land Run and the “Civilization” of the Osage
7. “Even poor varieties may be made sweet”: Women’s Labor and Constructions of Femininity
8. Family and Osage Extravagence and the Oil Boom
9. The “Empire of Vision”: Exhibition, Photography and Pawnee Bill
10. “The View from Persimmon Hill”: My Daddy, My Mama and Federal Policy in the 1950s
11. “The most beautiful blazing blue sky and emerald green fields”: Memory and the Sense of Place
Conclusion
Appendix: Ross Hess’s Writings
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

a scholarly examination of the history and relationship between white settlers, African-Americans, and the Osage of Oklahoma...highly recommended”—Midwest Book Review.

From the Publisher