Power and Progress on the Prairie: Governing People on Rosebud Reservation

Thomas Biolsi's book Power and Progress on the Prairie explores how governmental actors invented and applied ideas about modernity and progress to the people and land of rural South Dakota's Rosebud Country. He challenges the idea that the problems identified by state agents and the solutions they implemented were inevitable or rational, revealing that their underlying logic was often arbitrary and devastating.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 360 pages
Publication date: 22 May 2018
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

The Rosebud Country, a region comprising four counties in rural South Dakota, was initially established as the Rosebud Indian Reservation in 1889 to accommodate the Sicangu Lakota tribe. Over the course of the first two decades of the 20th century, white homesteaders began to settle in the area, eventually forming the majority population. Presently, the population of Rosebud Country is relatively balanced between Indians and whites.

In his book, Power and Progress on the Prairie, Thomas Biolsi delves into the intricate ways in which governmental entities, encompassing public officials, bureaucrats, and experts in civil society, conceived and implemented ideas related to modernity and progress. Through a series of case studies, Biolsi explores how various "problems" were brought to the attention of government experts and how corresponding solutions were devised and executed. These case studies encompass programs aimed at settling "surplus" Indian lands, "civilizing" Indians, "modernizing" white farmers, locating strategic sites for nuclear missile silos, and extending voting rights to Lakota people.

By employing theories of governmentality derived from Michel Foucault, Biolsi challenges the notion that the problems identified by state agents and the solutions they implemented were inevitable or rational. Instead, through a detailed analysis of the impact of these programs on both the Lakota and white residents, Biolsi unveils that their underlying logic was frequently arbitrary and catastrophic.

Weight: 430g
Dimension: 140 x 215 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781517900830