American Indian Women of Proud Nations ― Essays on History, Language, and Education

This multidisciplinary collection of nine previously unpublished essays presents new research in three interlocking domains: tribal history with a special emphasis on Native women in the Southeast, language revitalization efforts and the narrative knowledge inherent in indigenous oral culture, and traditional educational systems in the context of the ongoing colonization of American Indian educational practices and values. This volume highlights Southeastern Indian issues and demonstrates the unique situation of women in tribes lacking (full) federal recognition or a more inclusive and multidisciplinary discussion of Native women in more than one tribal nation. Southeastern themes are linked with topics of concern by other tribal nations to show commonalities and raised awareness about the central experiences and contributions of Native women in the encounter and ongoing struggle with Euro-American systems of oppression and cultural erasure.
This book spans the full gamut from naming women’s experiences of historical trauma to their ongoing efforts at preserving and rebuilding their Native nations. The collection of essays is distinctive in its Indigenous hermeneutics in that it insists on a holistic view of time and place-based knowledge – the past still fully affects the present and gives the present depth and meaning beyond the linear flow of time.
This book also features American Indian and non-American Indian scholars who are well known in American Indians studies, scholars beginning their career and scholars who, while not experts in American Indians studies, are considered experts in other disciplines and who recognize the unique attributes of Southeastern American Indian nations.

Cherry Maynor Beasley: is the Belk Endowed Chair in Rural and Minority Health at the Department of Nursing, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She has devoted most of her professional nursing career as a nursing provider, educator, and researcher within the greater Robeson County community.
Mary Ann Jacobs is Associate Professor and Chair, American Indian Studies and Social Work, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She is the author of several peer-reviewed articles, book sections, and reports dealing with foster care, racial identity, Chicago’s American Indian community, American Indian LGBT issues, child welfare policies for Indigenous children, and decolonizing methods.
Ulrike Wiethaus is Professor of Religion and American Ethnic Studies at Wake Forest University. Her research and publication interests focus on the history of Christian spirituality with an emphasis on gender justice and political history, and most recently, historic trauma, religion, and the long-term impact of U.S. colonialism.