The Allotment Plot: Alice C. Fletcher, E. Jane Gay, and Nez Perce Survivance

Nicole Tonkovich

The Allotment Plot: Alice C. Fletcher, E. Jane Gay, and Nez Perce Survivance
Format
Paperback
Publisher
University of Nebraska Press
Country
United States
Published
1 April 2022
Pages
440
ISBN
9781496230362

The Allotment Plot: Alice C. Fletcher, E. Jane Gay, and Nez Perce Survivance

Nicole Tonkovich

Named the 2013 Caroline Bancroft History Prize Honor Book by the Denver Public Library

The Allotment Plot reexamines the history of allotment on the Nez Perce Reservation from 1889 to 1892 to account for and emphasize the Nez Perce side of the story. By including Nez Perce responses to allotment, Nicole Tonkovich argues that the assimilationist aims of allotment ultimately failed due in large part to the agency of the Nez Perce people themselves throughout the allotment process. The Nez Perce were actively involved in negotiating the terms under which allotment would proceed and were simultaneously engaged in ongoing efforts to protect their stories and other cultural properties from institutional appropriation by the allotment agent, Alice C. Fletcher, a respected anthropologist, and her photographer and assistant, E. Jane Gay. The Nez Perce engagement in this process laid a foundation for the long-term survival of the tribe and its culture.

Making use of previously unexamined archival sources, Fletcher’s letters, Gay’s photographs and journalistic accounts, oral tribal histories, and analyses of performances such as parades and verbal negotiations, Tonkovich assembles a masterful portrait of Nez Perce efforts to control their own future and provides a vital counternarrative of the allotment period, which is often portrayed as disastrous to Native polities.

This item is not currently in-stock. It can be ordered online and is expected to ship in approx 2 weeks

Our stock data is updated periodically, and availability may change throughout the day for in-demand items. Please call the relevant shop for the most current stock information. Prices are subject to change without notice.

Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.