Conversations With Remarkable Native Americans

Entertaining and enlightening interviews with some of today's most important Native Americans.

In these lively and informative interviews, noted ethnohistorian and international consultant Joëlle Rostkowski brings to light major developments in the Native American experience over the last thirty years. Overcoming hardships they have experienced as the "forgotten" minority, often torn between two cultures, these prominent native writers, artists, journalists, activists, lawyers, and museum administrators each have made remarkable contributions towards the transformation of old stereotypes, the fight against discrimination, and the sharing of their heritage with mainstream society.

Theirs is a story not so much of success but of resilience, of survivance, with each interview subject having marked their time and eventually becoming the change they wanted in the world. The conversations in this volume reveal that the assertion of ethnic identity does not lead to bitterness and isolation, but rather an enthusiasm and drive toward greater visibility and recognition that at the same time aims at a greater understanding between different cultures. Conversations with Remarkable Native Americans rewards the reader with a deeper understanding of the Native American Renaissance.

Joëlle Rostkowski is an ethnohistorian who teaches at the School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences in Paris. She is also a consultant at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Her books include The Incomplete Conversion: North American Indians and Christianity and Native American Renaissance: A Century of Reconquests, winner of the 2002 French Academy History Prize.