Transforming Ethnohistories: Narrative, Meaning, and Community ed. by Sebastian Felix Braun (review)

Ethnohistory is often viewed as the intersection of history and anthropology in order to interpret the past or understand how the past has shaped the present. In Transforming Ethnohistories, Sebastian Felix Braun has compiled a collection of ten essays to situate a discussion not only of the state of ethnohistory today but also of how the field can change. Through-out the book the contributors acknowledge the influence of distinguished ethnohistorian Raymond J. DeMallie. DeMallie is the Chancellor’s Professor of Anthropology and American Indian Studies at Indiana University, and this collection highlights the unique paths ethnohistory has taken twenty years after DeMallie’s “They Have No Ears” address to the American Society of Ethnohistory in 1993. That speech illustrated Lakota ways of describing the act of listening and problems with scholars’ interpretations of Sitting Bull’s prophetic vision before the Battle of Little Big Horn. DeMallie has since transformed ethnohistory by pushing scholars to use their own ears and base historical knowledge on more than documents alone. This volume brings together a diverse group of DeMallie’s students, who highlight how his teachings and approach to ethnohistory have taken the field into new and exciting areas.

The essays assembled in this book use DeMallie’s approach of not rigidly defining ethnohistory. Instead, the authors use a Platonic method “by consciously using and creating or recreating narratives to make people understand, which is not unlike telling myths” (xii). This methodology proves effective because the authors seek to advance the theory of ethnohistory rather than the method. Often scholars are captivated with the array of methods used in ethnohistory. While this volume by no means minimizes the methods of ethnohistory, collectively these essays make it a point to emphasize the theory behind ethnohistory. By utilizing narratives, these authors show how a story can become a document and a document can be told as a story. The value of a story “lies in its meaning and in the transformation that this meaning creates” (13–14). Ultimately, this volume emphasizes that in order to be truly inclusive, ethnohistory must deal with a variety of narratives that lie outside of academic norms. The ten essays of this book illustrate a variety of styles and concepts that are exceptionally diverse.

While it would be impossible to review each essay in this book review, I have chosen a selection of chapters to show the extensive nature of this volume. This book ranges from the American South to the Yukon and covers linguistic studies, historical identity, performance theory, and Native language texts. Sarah Quick, in her essay “Raymond J. DeMallie, ‘Fictive Kin,’ and Contemporary Heritage Performance,” examines the role of fictive kin in academic scholarship. Heritage performances refer to ceremonies or rituals that are undertaken in order to showcase a group’s cultural heritage. For example, Quick examined the cultural importance of fiddling and jigging to the Métis during Canada’s Aboriginal Day festivities. The government support of this Métis image creates a certain degree of fiction. Quick points out that the First Nations and Inuit also fiddle and jig, so the image of these actions being connected solely to the Métis culture is inaccurate. To many scholars these performances reveal invented or partial truths. Quick agrees in part with scholars but shows that these situations are often more complex and require a more nuanced explanation. In many instances the Métis performances presented a seamless continuity with their past, but Quick also notes that the complexity of the performers, producers, and consumers must also be taken into consideration when evaluating a performance.

In his study of southeastern Indians’ rituals, Jason Baird Jackson examines a historical ceremony in his essay, entitled “What Can We Make of James Adair’s ‘Feast of Love’? Contextualizing a Native American Ceremonial from the Lower Mississippi Valley, ca. 1765.” Jackson’s careful assessment of the language in Adair’s narrative breaks down both the ceremonial traits and...