Why read Those Who Belong?

Book cover of Those Who Belong: Identity, Family, Blood, and Citizenship among the White Earth Anishinaabeg

Book description

Despite the central role blood quantum played in political formations of American Indian identity in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there are few studies that explore how tribal nations have contended with this transformation of tribal citizenship.

Those Who Belong explores how White Earth Anishinaabeg understood identity and blood…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked Those Who Belong as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Cayla Bellanger DeGroat

Author

This book explores blood quantum, a faulty metric of “Indian blood” used to determine who is eligible for citizenship in a Native American tribe.

Blood quantum is a hot topic of discussion and continues to be controversial in Indian Country. Doerfler frames the issue expertly when she explores the real history of how White Earth Anishinaabeg at different periods of time conceive of identity. Or rather, who belongs, which is at the root of being Native American, both politically and personally.

My own feelings about blood quantum, once waffling and unsure, have evolved over the years. This book solidified my…

From Cayla's list on The best books by Native American and First Nations authors on the power of Indigenous stories, identity, & histories.