Demythifying Native Americans
"All the Real Indians Died Off" And 20 Other Myths about Native Americans

http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/4909
Date Written:  2017-03-01
Publisher:  Against the Current
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21547

Book review of Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's and Dina Gilio-Whitaker's "All the Real Indians Died Off" And 20 Other Myths about Native Americans.

Abstract: 
-

Excerpt:

The book dispels many pervasive myths, but accomplishes much more. As an introduction to Indian Country it expands the horizons of the reader. It invites the reader to unlearn untruths and to learn from another vantage point. Importantly, the book not only demystifies Native peoples, but also exposes white supremacy and Eurocentric cultural norms as fundamental building blocks of our contemporary colonized thought.

The book is a useful resource, ideal for high school and local libraries. It can be used as part of an introduction to Native American and Indigenous Studies at the high school or college level, or an entry point on Native peoples for reading groups. The book is also the ideal companion to Dunbar-Ortiz's An Indigenous People's History of the United States. When offering the books together for an introductory course or reading group, "All the Real Indians Died Off" should be read first.

The book has a few minor flaws. In challenging myths, at times it's occasionally unclear as to the yardstick by which myths are measured, shifting at times between different forms of knowledge and knowledge systems.