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Reviews
| Native Hubs: Culture, Community, and Belonging in Silicon Valley and Beyond. Renya K. Ramirez. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007. xii + 273 pp. Photos, notes, bibliography, and index. $79.95 (cloth); $22.95 (paper).
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This ethnographic study focuses on the useful concept of "hubs." The author presents these as both geographic and psychological spaces and techniques that urban Native Americans use to affirm their identity, to maintain connections to their tribal homelands, and to share experiences while they live in or near San Jose, California. For Professor Ramirez, hubs appear in many guises. They may include meetings and family gatherings, powwows and sweat lodge ceremonies, urban multi-tribal organizations, and even reading e-mail messages about tribal cultural events. As such, hubs make possible important connections to tribal homelands and play significant roles in helping with difficulties resulting from the diaspora experienced by thousands of American Indians. |
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The author presents five related but distinct goals for her work. She draws attention to the Indians who now live in major urban centers around the country, an important group because—as the 2000 U.S. Census shows—more than 60 percent of Native people live in cities rather than on their home reservations. At the same time, the narrative examines the efforts of the Ohlone tribe of northern California to regain the federal recognition they lost during the 1920s and the related operations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs-administered acknowledgement program now in operation. The text demonstrates the multi-sided problems facing Mexican Indians in California. It depicts the fifty thousand or so Mixtec people from Oaxaca in southern Mexico as victims in both their homeland and the United States. Another issue relates to the position of individual American Indians and their families who lost their tribal membership through actions taken by the governments on their home reservations. Often these people have to fight to gain some recognition of their Indian identity from tribal members in good standing. This last area of emphasis examines the particular difficulties faced by Native women. |
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In her analysis of this broad range of significant issues, Ramirez draws upon personal experiences and lengthy interviews for much of the discussion. She ties these effectively to her central objectives. Her application of the idea or theory of hubs works well, although for at least twenty years, scholars of the urban Indian experience have noted the cultural significance of Indian centers and clubs in the twin processes of cultural retention and multi-tribal connections. Her discussion of federal relocation efforts aimed at moving Indians from their home reservations to distant cities suggests that the majority of urban Indians made such moves through the federal program, but this was not the case. However, the discussion of issues related to Mexican Indians in the U.S. and to transnational connections and identities are important and deserve more study. |
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This is an ambitious and interesting book. Yet it fails to achieve some of its goals for several reasons. By trying to analyze the broad themes noted above, it takes on more than can be dealt with effectively in a single short book. In addition, the prose is weakened by frequent repetition of basic information certainly known by most of its potential users. Beyond—or perhaps related to—this is a kind of "preaching to the choir" feel to the analysis. In fact, virtually all scholars interested in these issues will find nothing with which to argue but at the same time will find little beyond the specific details that is new or that will challenge their ideas.
Roger L. Nichols
University of Arizona
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