In Power and Progress on the Prairie, Thomas Biolsi traces how a variety of governmental actors, including public officials, bureaucrats, and experts in civil society, invented and applied ideas about modernity and progress to the people and the land. Through a series of case studiesprograms to settle “surplus” Indian lands, to “civilize” the Indians, to “modernize” white farmers, to find strategic sites for nuclear missile silos, and to extend voting rights to Lakota peopleBiolsi examines how these various “problems” came into focus for government experts and how remedies were devised and implemented.
Drawing on theories of governmentality derived from Michel Foucault, Biolsi challenges the idea that the problems identified by state agents and the solutions they implemented were inevitable or rational. Rather, through fine-grained analysis of the impact of these programs on both the Lakota and white residents, he reveals that their underlying logic was too often arbitrary and devastating.
In Power and Progress on the Prairie, Thomas Biolsi traces how a variety of governmental actors, including public officials, bureaucrats, and experts in civil society, invented and applied ideas about modernity and progress to the people and the land. Through a series of case studiesprograms to settle “surplus” Indian lands, to “civilize” the Indians, to “modernize” white farmers, to find strategic sites for nuclear missile silos, and to extend voting rights to Lakota peopleBiolsi examines how these various “problems” came into focus for government experts and how remedies were devised and implemented.
Drawing on theories of governmentality derived from Michel Foucault, Biolsi challenges the idea that the problems identified by state agents and the solutions they implemented were inevitable or rational. Rather, through fine-grained analysis of the impact of these programs on both the Lakota and white residents, he reveals that their underlying logic was too often arbitrary and devastating.
Power and Progress on the Prairie: Governing People on Rosebud Reservation
360Power and Progress on the Prairie: Governing People on Rosebud Reservation
360Paperback(3rd ed.)
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781517900830 |
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Publisher: | University of Minnesota Press |
Publication date: | 05/22/2018 |
Edition description: | 3rd ed. |
Pages: | 360 |
Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d) |