Codeswitchers :: Business | Social Change | Leadership Pathfinders Sept 2015 | Page 20

BOOKWORM Indigenous Women and Work

This book is a comprehensive collection of essays spanning the late 18th to late 20th centuries. It details the lives of working Indigenous women in the four British settler states of Canada, Australia, New Zealand/Aotearoa and the United States.

The geographic range allows the reader to see the commonalities and differences between Indigenous women's experiences and relationship to work in these various national contexts, from the late nineteenth century to the present.

Charting Indigenous women's lives and circumstances as waged and unwaged workers, the contributors to the book offer compelling stories and perspectives of how women contributed – through labour – to the survival of their families and entire communities in the face of ongoing tensions between assimilation and colonisation.

Importantly, the essays explore and provide insight into how settler nations conceived of Indigenous women over the centuries and how this translated to policy and practice. It serves as a reminder that ethnocentric perception and antiquated ways of thinking are subtly embedded in the way our nations operate today. Importantly, it is also a reminder of the strength and resilience Indigenous women have in overcoming adversity and accelerating in all aspect of life including work.

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Reviews

"Readers in search of compelling works in the fields of indigenous studies, women's studies, and women's history will find this work to be an absolute treasure. Recommended."--Choice

"This book of lively and engaging essays looks afresh at the labor relations that have shaped colonizer nations. It provides a cutting-edge text, as well as a useful index, which will guide scholars and students alike."--Western Historical Quarterly