As modern European empires expanded, written language was critical to articulations of imperial authority and justifications of conquest. For imperial administrators and thinkers, the non-literacy of "native" societies demonstrated their primitiveness and inability to change. Yet as the contributors to Indigenous Textual Cultures make clear through cases from the Pacific Islands, Australasia, North America, and Africa, indigenous communities were highly adaptive and created novel, dynamic literary practices that preserved indigenous knowledge traditions. The contributors illustrate how modern literacy operated alongside orality rather than replacing it. Reconstructing multiple traditions of indigenous literacy and textual production, the contributors focus attention on the often hidden, forgotten, neglected, and marginalized cultural innovators who read, wrote, and used texts in endlessly creative ways. This volume demonstrates how the work of these innovators played pivotal roles in reimagining indigenous epistemologies, challenging colonial domination, and envisioning radical new futures.

Contributors. Noelani Arista, Tony Ballantyne, Alban Bensa, Keith Thor Carlson, Evelyn Ellerman, Isabel Hofmeyr, Emma Hunter, Arini Loader, Adrian Muckle, Lachy Paterson, Laura Rademaker, Michael P. J. Reilly, Bruno Saura, Ivy T. Schweitzer, Angela Wanhalla

About the Author
Tony Ballantyne is Pro-Vice-Chancellor in the Division of Humanities at the University of Otago in New Zealand. His many books include Entanglements of Empire: Missionaries, Maori, and the Question of the Body, also published by Duke University Press.

Lachy Paterson is Professor at the University of Otago's Te Tumu: School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies.

Angela Wanhalla is Associate Professor of History at the University of Otago.

Reviews
"Indigenous Textual Cultures is a cohesive, well-edited collection of twelve articles written by an international community of experts in indigenous cultures and colonialism. . . . These scholars bring a fresh approach that focuses on using original-language indigenous sources and interpreting this array of materials within their proper cultural contexts." -- Julie K. Tanaka * RBM *
"Research that draws on decolonizing methodologies remains urgent and necessary. This powerful, eloquent collection of new essays sets innovative agendas for this research." -- Gillian Whitlock * Australian Historical Studies *
"Each chapter offers well-written, engaging, and thoughtful illustrations and analyses. . . . [Indigenous Textual Cultures] is an important contribution to the role of communication in the vicious and devastating struggles between colonial structures and Indigenous communities." -- David Troolin * Pacific Affairs *
"There is great value in this collection for historians of the American West. . . . Each chapter brings much needed nuance to our understanding of Indigenous responses to colonialism and forced assimilation." -- Justin Gage * Western Historical Quarterly *
"The wide variety of topics covered and the discussion of so many different Indigenous textual cultures have helped create a collection that is an extremely important resource. In particular, this book will appeal to researchers from a range of disciplines, such as cultural studies, postcolonial studies, linguistics and Indigenous studies and, more specifically, to anyone who is interested in transcultural concepts. The coverage of various theoretical and methodological approaches as well as the Indigenous perspectives voiced are very impressive, sound and innovative." -- Hanne Birk * Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9781478010814
Author Tony Ballantyne
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 499g