Black-Native Autobiographical Acts: Navigating the Minefields of Authenticity

In 2012, the National Museum of the American Indian hosted an exhibition called "IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas" to highlight the experiences and history of a multiracial group often overlooked. This book explores how Black Native Americans navigate narratives of racial and ethnic authenticity through various autobiographical forms, challenging traditional metrics of racial authenticity. It showcases the creative ways Afro-Native American people have negotiated questions of belonging, authenticity, and representation over the past 120 years, emphasizing the empowering possibilities of expanding definitions of autobiography.

Format: Hardback
Length: 198 pages
Publication date: 10 June 2021
Publisher: Lexington Books

In 2012, the National Museum of the American Indian hosted an exhibition titled "IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas," shedding light on the experiences and history of a marginalized yet significant multiracial group. This book aims to rectify the erasure of this community and contribute to the growing body of scholarship on individuals of mixed African and Indigenous ancestry in the United States. By intertwining discussions of authenticity in life writing with inquiries into mixed-race subjectivity, Cannon delves into the ways in which Black Native Americans navigate narratives of racial and ethnic authenticity through diverse autobiographical forms. Through meticulous close readings of scrapbooks by Sylvester Long Lance, oral histories from Black Americans who were once enslaved by American Indians, the music of Jimi Hendrix, photographs of contemporary Black Indians, and the performances of former Miss Navajo Radmilla Cody, Cannon makes a compelling argument that individuals who identify as both Black and Indigenous in the United States challenge conventional biological, political, and cultural notions of racial authenticity. Over the past 120 years, Afro-Native American communities have employed innovative strategies to negotiate questions of belonging, authenticity, and representation, showcasing the empowering potential of expanding definitions of autobiography.

Weight: 503g
Dimension: 227 x 162 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781793630575