Book Review

Canada and the United States

When Barry Goldwater joined the Smokis—a Prescott, Arizona-based group of white men who performed versions of Indian ceremonial dances—he became yet another participant in the time-honored American tradition of "playing Indian." The Smoki performances were conducted for decades in conjunction with Prescott's Frontier Days, a local celebration deigned to lure tourists to the community, But, ultimately, belonging to the Smokis symbolized a particular perspective about power and identity—elements that are central to the analysis provided by Philip J. Deloria in this brilliant book.

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Deloria declares that "the practice of playing Indian has clustered around two paradigmatic moments—the Revolution, which rested on the creation of a national identity, and modernity, which has used Indian play to encounter the authentic amidst the anxiety of urban industrial and postindustrial life" (p. 7). But if playing Indian is a "persistent tradition in American culture," Deloria contends that it is also "a tradition with limitations" that "clung tightly to the contours of power." He explores the connection between "the Indian" and American identity, the role of disguise and costume, how and why this form of identity changed over time, and how American Indians "participated in white people's Indian play, assisting, conforming, co-opting, challenging and legitimating the performative traditions of aboriginal American identity" (p. 8).

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