Native America and the Question of Genocide (Studies in Genocide: Religion, History, and Human Rights) - Hardcover

Alvarez, Alex

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1442225815 ISBN 13: 9781442225817

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014

Synopsis

Did Native Americans suffer genocide? This controversial question lies at the heart of Native America and the Question of Genocide. After reviewing the various meanings of the word “genocide,” author Alex Alvarez examines a range of well-known examples, such as the Sand Creek Massacre and the Long Walk of the Navajo, to determine where genocide occurred and where it did not. The book explores the destructive beliefs of the European settlers and then looks at topics including disease, war, and education through the lens of genocide.

Native America and the Question of Genocide shows the diversity of Native American experiences postcontact and illustrates how tribes relied on ever-evolving and changing strategies of confrontation and accommodation, depending on their location, the time period, and individuals involved, and how these often resulted in very different experiences. Alvarez treats this difficult subject with sensitivity and uncovers the complex realities of this troubling period in American history.

About this title

About the Author

Alex Alvarez is professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northern Arizona University. He was the founding director of the Martin-Springer Institute for Teaching the Holocaust, Tolerance, and Humanitarian Values. He is author or coauthor of several books, including Murder American Style, Violence: The Enduring Problem, and Governments, Citizens, and Genocide, and Genocidal Crimes.

Reviews

Alvarez tackles the complex question of whether or not the post-contact decimation of Native American populations, magnified by events such as the Sand Creek Massacre, constituted genocide. He defines genocide as an attempt to destroy a population group. Further, he concludes that genocide entails a strategy, not just an event or series of events. It’s through this lens that he views a selection of massacres, waves of disease, forced removal to reservations, and native children’s mandatory attendance at military and church-run boarding schools, in his attempt to ascertain whether any of these qualify as genocide. Wounded Knee and the Sand Creek Massacre he labels as isolated events, not committed as acts of policy meant to exterminate entire tribes. The Long Walk of the Navajo to the Bosque Redondo Alvarez calls “traumatic,” but not genocidal, for it was intended to kill Navajo culture, but leave the people alive—the crux, he says, of cultural genocide. In his sensitive treatment of this difficult issue, Alvarez strikes a balance between scholarly pragmatism and a humanist’s empathy for the victims of this immense tragedy. --Deborah Donovan

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1442225815
• ISBN 13: 9781442225817
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 203