I'm looking for a book for a genre challenge I'm completing – the brief is a nonfiction book about Indigenous history.
Ideally I would like something that is more about spiritual beliefs or folklore, as that fits with my interests already. Also, I am more interested in maybe Maori or Sami cultures, although I vaguely remember seeing something once about how different the philosophy behind Native American beliefs is to Western culture, so if there was a book that delved into that I could probably get on board. I don't want it to be too heavy I just won't finish it, but I'd also really like to learn something in more depth.
by i_littlemy
3 Comments
I am Canadian so I have no knowledge of Maori or Sami culture other than the very shallow ideas I’ve seen in the media. but i can recommend some FNMI (First Nation, Metis, Innuit) books. Two books actually.
this one is not so much about history but about culture and folklore and the indigenous experience of nature. [Braiding Sweetgrass ](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17465709-braiding-sweetgrass?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=cGmLDIu4Nl&rank=1)
And this one is truly subversive look at indigenous history from a Cree perspective. [The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle: Vol. 1: A True and Exact Accounting of the History of Turtle Island](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/179949266-the-memoirs-of-miss-chief-eagle-testickle?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_10)
[Kent Monkman ](https://anglicanjournal.com/a-journey-through-erased-history-kent-monkmans-shame-and-prejudice/)is a Cree artist, he is radical and confrontational and eye opening. This book is another aspect of his art, where he confronts the viewer with the truth of Canadian imperialism and why the Truth And Reconciliation process was so important and is still ongoing. So it’s probably not the kind of history book you were looking for, but I think it’s much more interesting than a shallow history. There are so many different First Nations that an overall history is impossible to write. They certainly don’t have a cohesive philosophy between them; they all have slightly different legends and interpretations. and again, I cannot speak to Maori or Sami culture at all.
Indigenous American Women by Devon Mihesuah – not spiritual/folklore but goes into how indigenous peoples in the Americas viewed and treated women vs how Europeans did and how that clash often slowly eroded women’s places in the tribes. Cherokee Women by Theda Purdue is also really good look at that for a single tribe.
*An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States* by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Obviously focused on a different part of the world, but it’s considered basically the canon of the genre in the US for a reason.