Reviews
Few other works on contemporary Native American community politics are as wide-ranging and theoretically sophisticated as Mohawk Interruptus . By examining many competing but linked understandings of Mohawk national identity, Audra Simpson exposes a uniquely Indigenous and Iroquoian conception of community that transcends national and ethnographic prescriptions of unitary and fixed social identities., [A]n essential read for any study of settler colonialism, native/indigenous/first-nation studies, or the study of sovereignty, and also stands on its own as an important narrative of North America's ongoing colonial history., "This brilliant ethnographic and political study of how the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke live and enact their sovereign nationhood and refuse incorporation is a masterpiece. It challenges and transforms the way Indigenous politics is studied in Anthropology and Political Science and deserves the widest possible readership. "--James Tully, author of Public Philosophy in a New Key, Two Volumes, In her brilliant study of Kahnawà:ke, a Mohawk reserve outside Montréal, anthropologist Simpson rejects this dominant image of indigenous nationhood on the brink and 'starts with a grounded refusal, not a precipice.' The author problematizes long-standing assumptions to position the actions of the Kahnawà:ke nation as that of refusal, a valid alternative to political recognition. Through in-depth ethnographic research, Simpson identifies what is important to the community, as evidenced by her discussion of important intellectual Louis Hall, whose analysis of Mohawk nationhood has deeply influenced Haudenosaunee people, yet has been largely ignored by scholars. . . . Such incisive analysis promises that this study will be influential and widely read. . . . Essential. All levels/libraries., [Simpson] offers a highly nuanced and theoretically sophisticated ethnographical study illustrating the kinds of critical research questions insider researchers can ask that lead to new understandings and challenge the orthodoxy. Simpson has made a significant contribution as an insider researcher, an Indigenous studies scholar, an anthropologist, that highlights the exciting new era of Indigenous research we have entered., "Simpson accomplishes what she set out to do in this text, namely to offer a critical evaluation of settler colonialism as experienced by Kahnawà:ke Mohawk. Her book is beautifully written: her prose is elegant, and she interweaves ethnographic research with political history and theory to build her argument. ... Simpson enhances our understanding of how a community of people struggle to understand, and why they must continually fight for, their political independence after centuries of settler colonialism." , Mohawk Interruptus deftly interrogates how settler colonialism and anthropological practice in the United States and Canada have circumscribed Iroquoian (Haudenosaunee) identities--and Mohawk identities, in particular--in ways that ignore contested interpretations of indigeneity and serve to erase indigenous nationhood. ... A major takeaway from Simpson's account is that anthropologists, political scientists, historians, and those of us in Native American studies need to theorize and examine how people experience and feel membership, citizenship, and nationhood while not replicating colonial projects of erasure in our scholarly research and writing., Rather than merely a book of and for anthropology, then, Mohawk Interruptus calls upon its reader to rethink action and collectivity through a different modality than the current political registers presume. Refusal, both as a political theoretical concept and as a quotidian shared practice, may allow a continued, powerful, and even potentially joyful relationship to state power., " Mohawk Interruptus is Audra Simpsons bold challenge to the academic apprehension of the Iroquois. She has succeeded brilliantly. This book is now the authoritative history of Kahnawà:ke and a powerful statement that recasts our people and redefines how research on Indigenous peoples should be done. This is a long-awaited book by the most intelligent, passionate and incisive of Iroquois intellectuals. It makes me proud to be from Kahnawake and deeply impresses me as a scholar."-- Taiaiake Alfred (Kahnawake Mohawk), Professor of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria., "This brilliant ethnographic and political study of how the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke live and enact their sovereign nationhood and refuse incorporation is a masterpiece. It challenges and transforms the way Indigenous politics is studied in Anthropology and Political Science and deserves the widest possible readership."-- James Tully , author of Public Philosophy in a New Key, Two Volumes, Mohawk Interruptus , was recently voted 'Best First Book Published in 2014' by the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, and after reading it I can understand why.... The complexities of Indigenous life in Mohawk Interruptus are given neither the security of romanticization nor the comfort of the scholarly pulpit., This marvelous book is a searing exposition of a Kahnawà:ke Mohawk subjectivity hardened in opposition to social 'facts' taken for granted by millions in settler societies. . . . Readers will appreciate Simpson's passionately argued and provocative thesis, in-depth and intimate ethnographic descriptions, incisive prose, and iconoclastic engagements with anthropological history and political theory., Mohawk Interruptus is Audra Simpson's bold challenge to the academic apprehension of the Iroquois. She has succeeded brilliantly. This book is now the authoritative history of Kahnawà:ke and a powerful statement that recasts our people and redefines how research on Indigenous peoples should be done. This is a long-awaited book by the most intelligent, passionate and incisive of Iroquois intellectuals. It makes me proud to be from Kahnawà:ke and deeply impresses me as a scholar., This brilliant ethnographic and political study of how the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke live and enact their sovereign nationhood and refuse incorporation is a masterpiece. It challenges and transforms the way Indigenous politics is studied in Anthropology and Political Science and deserves the widest possible readership., I expect Mohawk Interruptus will assert its place in the Haudenosaunee canon, which will compel subsequent scholars to take a closer look at how Indigenous communities in general struggle to maintain their political integrity under the pressure of a variety of colonially created borders and the laws that enforce them over the sovereign rights of others., Mohawk Interruptus is Audra Simpson's bold challenge to the academic apprehension of the Iroquois. She has succeeded brilliantly. This book is now the authoritative history of Kahnawà:ke and a powerful statement that recasts our people and redefines how research on Indigenous peoples should be done. This is a long-awaited book by the most intelligent, passionate and incisive of Iroquois intellectuals. It makes me proud to be from Kahnawake and deeply impresses me as a scholar., [A] tour de force exploration of contemporary Kahnawa:ke political life. . . . In its examination and sustained critique of the settler colonialism and the politics of nationhood, recognition, and refusal, and its vision of more productive and inclusive understandings of Kahnawa:ke citizenship, Mohawk Interruptus joins some of the most provocative and cutting-edge work taking place in Native/indigenous studies today. We would be wise to heed its challenge to develop similarly rigorous and critical studies of indigenous self-determination throughout the hemisphere, in whatever forms they might take., "Few other works on contemporary Native American community politics are as wide-ranging and theoretically sophisticated as Mohawk Interruptus . By examining many competing but linked understandings of Mohawk national identity, Audra Simpson exposes a uniquely Indigenous and Iroquoian conception of community that transcends national and ethnographic prescriptions of unitary and fixed social identities."-- Ned Blackhawk , author of Violence over the Land: Indians and Empires in the Early American West
