Ward Churchill - Böcker

What could be more American than Columbus Day? Or the Washington Redskins? For Native Americans, they are bitter reminders that they live in a world where their identity is still fodder for white society."The law has always been used as toilet paper by the status quo where American Indians are concerned," writes Ward Churchill in Acts of Rebellion, a collection of his most important writings from the past twenty years. Vocal and incisive, Churchill stands at the forefront of American Indian concerns, from land issues to the American Indian Movement, from government repression to the history of genocide.Churchill, one of the most respected writers on Native American issues, lends a strong and radical voice to the American Indian cause. Acts ofRebellion shows how the most basic civil rights' laws put into place to aid all Americans failed miserably, and continue to fail, when put into practice for our indigenous brothers and sisters. Seeking to convey what has been done to Native North America, Churchill skillfully dissects Native Americans' struggles for property and freedom, their resistance and repression, cultural issues, and radical Indian ideologies.

What could be more American than Columbus Day? Or the Washington Redskins? For Native Americans, they are bitter reminders that they live in a world where their identity is still fodder for white society."The law has always been used as toilet paper by the status quo where American Indians are concerned," writes Ward Churchill in Acts of Rebellion, a collection of his most important writings from the past twenty years. Vocal and incisive, Churchill stands at the forefront of American Indian concerns, from land issues to the American Indian Movement, from government repression to the history of genocide.Churchill, one of the most respected writers on Native American issues, lends a strong and radical voice to the American Indian cause. Acts ofRebellion shows how the most basic civil rights' laws put into place to aid all Americans failed miserably, and continue to fail, when put into practice for our indigenous brothers and sisters. Seeking to convey what has been done to Native North America, Churchill skillfully dissects Native Americans' struggles for property and freedom, their resistance and repression, cultural issues, and radical Indian ideologies.

Ward Churchill has achieved an unparalleled reputation as a scholar-activist and analyst of indigenous issues in North America. Here, he explores the history of holocaust and denial in this hemisphere, beginning with the arrival of Columbus and continuing on into the present. He frames the matter by examining both "revisionist" denial of the nazi-perpatrated Holocaust and the opposing claim of its exclusive "uniqueness," using the full scope of what happened in Europe as a backdrop against which to demonstrate that genocide is precisely what has been-and still is-carried out against the American Indians. Churchill lays bare the means by which many of these realities have remained hidden, how public understanding of this most monstrous of crimes has been subverted not only by its perpetrators and their beneficiaries but by the institutions and individuals who perceive advantages in the confusion. In particular, he outlines the reasons underlying the United States's 40-year refusal to ratify the Genocide Convention, as well as the implications of the attempt to exempt itself from compliance when it finally offered its "endorsement."In conclusion, Churchill proposes a more adequate and coherent definition of the crime as a basis for identifying, punishing, and preventing genocidal practices, wherever and whenever they occur. "Ward Churchill opens the X-Files of American history to examine the phenomenon of genocide in eight essays..." --Susan A. Miller, University of Nebraska-Lincoln "Churchill relates the history of genocide and the struggle for a definition of the term sufficiently accurate and comprehensive, to prevent the watering down of the concept, and to cut through the misleading rhetoric which now obfuscates debate, thereby permitting this and other genocides to continue..." --A. Clare Brandabur, Purdue University "Churchill paints the whole picture here -- from Columbus onwards, the major and significant struggles between an ignorant but brutal Conquistadores and the all-too-vulnerable American Tribes are analysed in a context of deliberate genocide. In terms of effectiveness, it surpasses the holocaust delivered upon European Jewry by the Nazi's." --Schnews.org.uk Ward Churchill (enrolled Keetoowah Cherokee) is Professor of American Indian Studies with the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder.A member of the American Indian Movement since 1972, he has been a leader of the Colorado chapter for the past fifteen years. Among his previous books have been Fantasies of a Master Race, Struggle for the Land, Since Predator Came, and From a Native Son.

Chosen as an "Outstanding Book on the Subject of Human Rights in the United States" by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights. In this volume of incisive essays, Ward Churchill looks at representations of American Indians in literature and film, delineating a history of cultural propaganda that has served to support the continued colonization of Native America. During each phase of the genocide of American Indians, the media has played a critical role in creating easily digestible stereotypes of Indians for popular consumption. Literature about Indians was first written and published in order to provoke and sanctify warfare against them. Later, the focus changed to enlisting public support for "civilizing the savages," stripping them of their culture and assimilating them into the dominant society. Now, in the final stages of cultural genocide, it is the appropriation and stereotyping of Native culture that establishes control over knowledge and truth. The primary means by which this is accomplished is through the powerful publishing and film industries.Whether they are the tragically doomed "noble savages" walking into the sunset of Dances With Wolves or Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan, the exotic mythical Indians constitute no threat to the established order. Literature and art crafted by the dominant culture are an insidious political force, disinforming people who might otherwise develop a clearer understanding of indigenous struggles for justice and freedom. This book is offered to counter that deception, and to move people to take action on issues confronting American Indians today. "One of the most outspoken of current Native American activists, Churchill ...is an amazingly consistent and perceptive writer." --Publishers Weekly "Ward Churchill has long since proven himself to be one of the most eloquent and powerful spokes[people] for American Indian rights." -- Russell Means Ward Churchill has achieved an unparalleled reputation as a scholar-activist and analyst of indigenous issues. He is a political activist and an author of numerous books, including A Little Matter of Genocide, Struggle for the Land, and Fantasies of the Master Race.

The United States is readily distinguishable from other countries, Chief Justice John Marshall opined in 1803, because it is "a nation of laws, not of men." In Perversions of Justice, Ward Churchill takes Marshall at his word, exploring through a series of 11 carefully crafted essays how the U.S. has consistently employed a corrupt from of legalism as a means of establishing colonial control and empire. Along the way, he demonstrates how this "nation of laws" has so completely subverted the law of nations that the current America-dominated international order ends up, like the U.S. -itself, functioning in a manner dia-metrically opposed to the ideals of freedom and democracy it professes to embrace. By tracing the evolution of federal Indian law, Churchill is able to show how the premises set forth therein not only spilled over onto non-Indians in the U.S., but were also adapted for application abroad. The trajectory of America's imperial logic can be followed all the way to the present New World Order in which "what we say goes" at the dawn of the third millennium.

This seminal book established Churchill as an intellectual force to be reckoned with in indigenous land rights debates. Required reading for anyone interested in Native North America and ecological justice. Revised and expanded edition. Ward Churchill (Keetowah Cherokee) has achieved an unparalleled reputation as a scholar-activist and analyst of indigenous issues. He is a Professor of American Indian Studies, a leading member of AIM, and has been a delegate to the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

For five consecutive generations, from roughly 1880-1980, Native American children in the United States and Canada were forcibly taken from their families and relocated to residential schools. The stated goal of this government program was to "kill the Indian to save the man." Half of the children did not survive the experience, and those who did were left permanently scarred. The resulting alcoholism, suicide, and the transmission of trauma to their own children has led to a social disintegration with results that can only be described as genocidal. Ward Churchill is the author of A Little Matter of Genocide, among other books. He is currently a Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder.