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Countering Colonization: Native American Women and Great Lakes Missions, 1630-1900

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Countering Colonization provides refreshing insights about the interplay among Native nations, early contact, and ecological changes induced by the colonizer's commerce and religion. Carol Devens sets forth an evolving tapestry with regional differences that occurred across decades. Part of the shifting tapestry was ecological, as indigenous life ways became increasingly affected by traders' commercialization of hunting and trapping. Concurrently, many Native Nations were affected by zealous Christian missionaries whose message and methods were directed against Native life-ways and religiosity. Although her primary and well-argued thesis calls attention to Native women's role in resisting colonization, her essay is equally important for its summary portrayal of colonization's impact upon ecological balance and how that change altered male/female relations within Native communities. Devens also provides informative critiques helpful for interpreting cultural biases and insights provided by various early and mid-20th Century anthropologists who described Native ways. Probably, Countering Colonization is more useful for intermediate and advanced students of Turtle Island's native history. For persons wanting insights into indigenous ways of knowing, Buhner's "One Spirit, Many Peoples" and Abram's "The Spell of the Sensuous" are recommended. In contrast, Devens' book stands with Allen's "The Sacred Hoop" in providing an overview of societal and interpersonal changes that occurred within Native Nations as colonization endured. Fortuitously, by Countering Colonization, Native women (and men) have helped preserve Native Nations' more healthy ways of knowing and acting. Perhaps someday, after polluting one too many rivers, the colonizers' descendants will come to their senses.