A Reservation Undiminished
The Saginaw Chippewa Case and Native Sovereignty
Published on 30. November 2024
Book
Hardback
160 pages
978-0-8061-9470-7 (ISBN)
Description
It took more than one hundred years for federal, state, and local governments to recognize the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe's claim to its Isabella Reservation in central Michigan. This book tells the story of how the tribe persevered and eventually succeeded in having the reservation recognized. It is the story of widespread fraud and oppression perpetrated by non-Native Americans seeking to clearcut the rich Chippewa forest for quick profits, despite the federal government's solemn promises of protection made to the Saginaw Chippewa nation in treaties.
In its account of the legal battle over the Isabella Reservation, Reservation Undiminished explores what Native sovereignty actually means. The authors, three key participants in the case, give an inside view of the case and its historical context. When it began to take shape in 2005, lawyers for five different jurisdictions hired historians and anthropologists to evaluate the Saginaws' claim and serve as expert witnesses. Two of those historians, Gary C. Anderson and R. David Edmunds, reveal the importance of archival research in demonstrating governments' continual references to the Saginaw Chippewas' reservation long after 1875, when the state claimed it ceased to exist. Attorney Todd Adams, who represented the state of Michigan in the case, explores what happened after the state settled with the Saginaw in 2010. He recounts the unlikely collaboration of all parties in resolving the conflict.
Reservation Undiminished presents a cohesive narrative of a legal case that testifies to Native persistence in asserting territorial sovereignty in the twenty-first century-and that highlights the potential for conflict resolution in seemingly intractable legal struggles between state, local, and tribal governments.
In its account of the legal battle over the Isabella Reservation, Reservation Undiminished explores what Native sovereignty actually means. The authors, three key participants in the case, give an inside view of the case and its historical context. When it began to take shape in 2005, lawyers for five different jurisdictions hired historians and anthropologists to evaluate the Saginaws' claim and serve as expert witnesses. Two of those historians, Gary C. Anderson and R. David Edmunds, reveal the importance of archival research in demonstrating governments' continual references to the Saginaw Chippewas' reservation long after 1875, when the state claimed it ceased to exist. Attorney Todd Adams, who represented the state of Michigan in the case, explores what happened after the state settled with the Saginaw in 2010. He recounts the unlikely collaboration of all parties in resolving the conflict.
Reservation Undiminished presents a cohesive narrative of a legal case that testifies to Native persistence in asserting territorial sovereignty in the twenty-first century-and that highlights the potential for conflict resolution in seemingly intractable legal struggles between state, local, and tribal governments.
Reviews / Votes
"A Reservation Undiminished is the paradigmatic story of twenty-first-century Indian Country governance. It shows where politics, history, and law engage with the lived reality of Indigenous peoples. This is an important book for advocates of both Native and non-Native governments."-Matthew L. M. Fletcher (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians) author of Federal Indian LawMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oklahoma
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
1 map
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
440 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8061-9470-7 (9780806194707)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Todd Adams has served as Assistant Attorney General for the state of Michigan and taught Native American law at Michigan State University College of Law.
Gary Clayton Anderson, George Lynn Cross Research Professor at the University of Oklahoma , is author of The Conquest of Texas: Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land, 1820-1875. His book The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention won the Angie Debo Prize and the publication award from the San Antonio Conservation Society.
R. David Edmunds, is Watson Professor of American History Emeritus at the University of Texas in Dallas, is a historian of Native American people and the American West. The author or editor of ten books and over one hundred essays, articles, and other shorter publications, Edmunds' major works have been awarded the Francis Parkman Prize (The Potawatomis: Keepers Of The Fire, 1978); the Ohioana Prize for Biography (The Shawnee Prophet , 1983); and the Alfred Heggoy Prize of the French Colonial Historical Society (The Fox Wars: The Mesquakie Challenge To New France, 1993).
Gary Clayton Anderson, George Lynn Cross Research Professor at the University of Oklahoma , is author of The Conquest of Texas: Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land, 1820-1875. His book The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention won the Angie Debo Prize and the publication award from the San Antonio Conservation Society.
R. David Edmunds, is Watson Professor of American History Emeritus at the University of Texas in Dallas, is a historian of Native American people and the American West. The author or editor of ten books and over one hundred essays, articles, and other shorter publications, Edmunds' major works have been awarded the Francis Parkman Prize (The Potawatomis: Keepers Of The Fire, 1978); the Ohioana Prize for Biography (The Shawnee Prophet , 1983); and the Alfred Heggoy Prize of the French Colonial Historical Society (The Fox Wars: The Mesquakie Challenge To New France, 1993).