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Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago

Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago

Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago

Low, John N.
Michigan State University Press

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians has been a part of Chicago since its founding. In very public expressions of indigeneity, they have refused to hide in plain sight or assimilate. Instead, throughout the city’s history, the Pokagon Potawatomi Indians have openly and aggressively expressed their refusal to be marginalized or forgotten—and in doing so, they have contributed to the fabric and history of the city.

Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago examines the ways some Pokagon Potawatomi tribal members have maintained a distinct Native identity, their rejection of assimilation into the mainstream, and their desire for inclusion in the larger contemporary society without forfeiting their “Indianness.” Mindful that contact is never a one-way street, Low also examines the ways in which experiences in Chicago have influenced the Pokagon Potawatomi. Imprintscontinues the recent scholarship on the urban Indian experience before as well as after World War II.

Review

“This is not only a sophisticated narrative of the inextricable relations of Native peoples to historical and contemporary urban spaces, but also the story of a stubborn tribe who insisted on making and maintaining places for themselves all around their southern Lake Michigan homeland.”
—Brian Klopotek, author of Recognition Odysseys: Indigeneity, Race, and Federal Tribal Recognition Policy in Three Louisiana Indian Communities
 
 

About the Author

John N. Low received his PhD in American Culture at the University of Michigan and is an enrolled citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. He is an assistant professor in comparative studies at Ohio State University–Newark where he also teaches in history and American Indian studies.

 

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians has been a part of Chicago since its founding. In very public expressions of indigeneity, they have refused to hide in plain sight or assimilate. Instead, throughout the city’s history, the Pokagon Potawatomi Indians have openly and aggressively expressed their refusal to be marginalized or forgotten—and in doing so, they have contributed to the fabric and history of the city.

 

Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago examines the ways some Pokagon Potawatomi tribal members have maintained a distinct Native identity, their rejection of assimilation into the mainstream, and their desire for inclusion in the larger contemporary society without forfeiting their “Indianness.” Mindful that contact is never a one-way street, Low also examines the ways in which experiences in Chicago have influenced the Pokagon Potawatomi. Imprintscontinues the recent scholarship on the urban Indian experience before as well as after World War II.


Michigan State University Press
Page count: 328
Native American History

Investigators

John Low, Associate Professor, History, Newark Campus

Filters: 2016