Resurrection of Red Reign
A Review of The Return of the
Native: American Indian Political Resurgence
by
Stephen Cornell
Author Biography
Stephen Cornell was born in 1948. Cornell
has a Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago. He taught
at Harvard University, and then moved to UCSD in 1989, where
he is director of the Udall Center for Studies in Public
Policy. Cornell is a professor of sociology and public
administration policy, and the co-founder of the Harvard
Project on American Indian Economic Development. He
continues to co-direct this project.
The history of Native Americans can be written as plainly as
any other history. However, Stephen Cornell wrote The Return
of the Native: American Indian Political Resurgence “with
interpretive subtlety and analytical power”.1
Cornell reflects upon the struggles of American Indians
politically, economically, and socially. The lives of
American Indians were greatly changed when the Europeans
came to America. The Return of the Native depicts what the
American Indians went through as they struggled to regain
their power. Throughout his book, Cornell incisively
describes each time period in American Indian history. The
history of the Native Americans can be divided into four
parts: the beginning of American Indian decline, the
revolution of the tribes, the political resurgence of
American Indians, and the return of native power. The Return
of the Native follows the path of Indian history from power,
to no power, and back to power again.
Cornell begins his book with the first contact between
Europeans and Native Americans. When the Europeans first
came to America they greatly relied on the natives. Cornell
states that the European-American trade was based around fur
trade. As producers of the furs, the Indians were at the
center of the fur trade. This period of time, the mid 16th
to late 18th centuries, was known as the “market
period."2 The market period consisted of
voluntary incorporation into the fur markets controlled by
Indian labor and consumption. The Indians were incorporated
into a mercantile economy, in which the furs provided much
of the money necessary for economic expansion and variation.
The manifestation of trade profits pulled Europeans across
to the western mountains and established posts later became
settlements. By the 1820s, however, trapping became the most
common method of producing pelts. Cornell also brings up
that Indian labor began to be replaced by European labor.
The Indians relied most on competitive politics for Indian
political power. Once French influence fell in North
America, the “competitive politics that had been the basis
of Indian political power” ended as well.3 The
Native Americans lost large portions of their land due to
the Revolutionary War and Louisiana Purchase. New lands
gained by the English became land for non-Indian settlement
and economic endeavor. Indians’ resources were the building
blocks for the rise of the United States in economic power.
However, Cornell mentions that the Americans had a problem—
“‘The Indian Problem’: how to gain access to Indian
resources.”4 In order to gain access to the
Native American resources, reservations were formed. Native
Americans were taken off their resource-rich land and placed
on reservations. The new American policy towards Indians was
to civilize the Indians. Assimilation, the integration of
Indians into non-Indian society, was also a goal. On the
reservations, jobs and wages were controlled by the Bureau
of Indian Affairs. Indian political autonomy and economic
self-sufficiency declined since the beginning of the fur trade.
In chapters five through seven Cornell emphasizes the
changes that the Indian tribes went through. As the Native
Americans began to notice that they were losing their power,
they began transforming their tribes. One response, pointed
out by Cornell, was indianization: the growth of supratribal
consciousness and constituency that led to the emergence of
“American Indians” as politically self-conscious
population.5 Another response to exclusion was
tribalization, the process by which tribes came to be
political organisms and the basis of Indian identities. The
reservations reinforced tribal identities, created new ones,
and allowed already existing alliances to continue.
Established in 1934, the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA)
stated that “any Indian tribe, or tribes, residing on the
same reservation, shall have the right to organize for its
common welfare.”6 The IRA and the Indian New Deal
granted Indians a limited, yet, enlarged degree of control
over their dealings and destinies. However, by formalizing
and advancing the alliance process, the IRA provoked
subtribal communities and constituencies. Tribalism began to
mean more as a foundation for assertion of individual and
group rights. The Society of American Indians (SAI) was
founded in 1911. The SAI was the “earliest major political
manifestation of an emergent supratribal consciousness and…
as an indicative of the limits supratribalism faced in the
early decades of the twentieth century.”7 The
twentieth century saw the gradual emergence and growth of a
supratribal American Indian consciousness.
The next section of the book highlights the political
resurgence of the Indians. Cornell states that the Native
Americans responded to their limited political power by
integrating themselves in the non-Indian workforce. Indians
seeked wage jobs off of the reservations. From 1950 to 1960,
the urban Indian population increased by one hundred and
sixty percent. Urbanization caused a varied Native American
population in the cities. The Indians benefited from
large-scale organization to attain resources and command
attention. The 1960s and 1970s saw rapid growth of a
national Indian media directed towards the Indian audience.
Cornell believes that the media helped to greaten the extent
of Indian political awareness beyond the boundaries of tribe
or region. Long-term residence in cities was only temporary
for Native Americans; they either eventually returned to the
reservation or they interspred their periods of living in
the city and in the reservation. The natives did not
“necessarily leave their world to go to the city- only
certain aspects of it.”8 Cornell says that
supratribalism represented an enlargement of the Indian
identity system and provided a new basis for political
action. Although the Native Americans wanted to identify
themselves, not all of them had the same goals. Indians had
several different kinds of goals: reformative-integrative,
reformative-segregative, transformation-integrative, and
transformation-segregative. In 1960, the Economic
Opportunity Act was established, providing more federal
funds to Indian nations. Cornell states that this caused the
emergence of urban Indian activism. Throughout the 1960s and
1970s, the Native Americans pursued new rights within
American society. Realists and radicals helped the
organization of Indian affairs. Since the 1960s, Indians had
gained a great influence over decisions of their lands and
resources. The Native Americans found alliances to help them
regain political power. During the Civil Rights campaign in
the 1960s, Indians received minority support. Collective
action required “organization: a structure of relationships
among group members that facilitates common participation in
a sustained, focused political effort.”9 The
1950s through the 1970s brought the rise of Red Power and
self-sufficiency.
The last three chapters of Cornell’s book explain the power
that the Indians gained. Throughout the 1900s the Native
Americans had fought for political rights. By the 1960s
Indians were elected in off reservation posts of local
government. Cornell states that the 1970s portrayed a
political movement. Organized political action was only
available to those integrated into the American society.
This political movement opened the doors for expression of
Indian political interests. From the 1950s up to the 1970s
“the activist movement turned increasingly to
extrainstitutional action: mass protests, civil
disobedience, land seizures, building occupations…” and some
even became violent.10 By the 1970s the remaining
Indian lands were resource rich once again. Some
reservations became dependent on income from natural
resources. In the 1970s the new incorporative phase emerged.
This phase, as Cornell mentioned, involved the incorporation
of Indian resources into the American economy. However,
“incorporation is being pursued as much as possible through
cooperative arrangements instead of coercion…”11
The new Indian politics set an arena for action and
political change. The latter half of the 1900s gave birth to
a political resurgence. As time goes on Indian and White
relations will once again be created by the Indians.
In his book, Cornell examines and clarifies the aspects of
the relations between Indians and Whites. Cornell states
that Native American actions shaped contemporary Indian and
White Relations, but his thesis is true only to an extent.
At first, the Native Americans controlled the trade and
economy of the Whites, regaining some control during the
activist movement. However, the Whites (Europeans) did rely
greatly on the Indians at first, but later they gained
control and shaped their relations with the Indians. It
seems that the Whites had more control over the relations
with the Indians. Cornell assumes that the Indians had the
greater impact in shaping the relations. Cornell uses the
words of Native Americans that he interviewed as a basis for
his book. Even though, Cornell uses people as his primary
sources, he only receives the points of view of the Indians
and not the other side. Of course, the Native Americans
would say that they are responsible for shaping the
relations between Indians and White; it makes them sound
like the stronger people. Historiography mostly likely
influenced Cornell as well. Cornell wrote his book sometime
in the 1980s, right after the Native American political
resurgence occurred. The Native Americans that he
interviewed had just recently come out of that political
resurgence. Also, there was most likely a lot of news and
propaganda about the political resurgence at the time.
Cornell’s thesis and point of view are based on the first
hand accounts of Native Americans and facts.
Dan Nemtusiak from Illinois State University read and
critiqued Stephen Cornell’s book, The Return of the Native:
American Indian Political Resurgence. Nemtusiak states that
the book “examines the turbulent history of the American
Indian and attempts to explain the recent political
resurgence of the Indians.”12 In his review,
Nemtusiak summarizes the book as Cornell wrote it. Nemtusiak
writes that Cornell’s book made him realize how hard it had
been for the Indians politically, Nemtusiak claims that
Cornell effectively sent out that message. Nemtusiak does
have a complaint about the book, however. He says that it
was not in chronological order, and therefore, found it hard
to follow at times. Nemtusiak says that he agreed with
Cornell’s arguments, ideas, and opinions. Also, Nemtusiak
mentions that he found The Return of the Native to be very
informative. He states that the book was not very debatable
either, since Cornell used a historical tone throughout the
book.
Heather Wileaver, also of Illinois State University,
reviewed The Return of the Native: American Indian Political
Resurgence. Wileaver states that “the majority of Cornell’s
book is devoted to retelling the history of Indian-White
relations and the transformations that came about as a
result of these interactions.”13 Wileaver claims
that Cornell linked the historical changes in Native
American economic, political, social, and cultural
organizations to the nature of Indian activism in the 1960s
and 1970s. She also describes the content in the book in her
review. Wileaver says that the entire history that Cornell
mentions leads up to his modern period (the 1960s to 1988).
For the most part, Wileaver agrees with Cornell’s opinions.
The Return of the Native: American Indian Political
Resurgence by Stephen Cornell is about the history of
Indian-White relations. Cornell uses very accurate sources
to find information about the Native Americans, such as
interviews and library research. The book covers just about
every aspect of the history of Native American and European
relations. Cornell takes you all the way back to the first
contact between Indians and Europeans, and then all the way
to the present (1988). All of the history that Cornell
mentions before the contemporary period leads up to the
American Indian political resurgence in the modern period.
The Return of the Native is very informative and makes you
realize what the Indians went through to regain political
power. The tone in which Cornell represents his book is
historical, thus making it difficult to doubt any of his
ideas or opinions. However, because Cornell wrote the book
right after the American Indian political resurgence he may
have been influenced by the enthusiasm of the period. As Dan
Nemtusiak mentioned, Cornell wrote out of chronological
order, making it hard to follow the timeline. The book,
being out of chronological order, is confusing at times when
trying to figure out what came first. This, however was the
only difficulty with reading the book. The book was written
with a lot of knowledge and power. Cornell provides the
reader with enough information to understand the American
Indian political resurgence. Cornell is able to express the
importance of this remarkable American Indian resurrection.
Overall, Cornell’s book is an excellent history book.
The American Indian political resurgence was a turning point
in American history both politically, economically, and
slightly culturally. As Cornell states in his book, the
Indian political resurgence consisted of an activist
movement and a political movement. The activist movement
bore mass protests, civil disobedience, building seizures,
and much more. The political movement involved Native
Americans gaining political control over themselves.
Politically the Indians gained power by being elected into
local governments off of the reservations and controlling
affairs and destinies of their lands. Economically, during
the 1960s and 1970s the Indian lands once again became
resource rich. The United States wanted to incorporate the
Indian resources into the economy. Culturally, supratribal
consciousness arose. The Native Americans wanted to identify
themselves. The political resurgence period of Native
Americans was an enormous landmark in history.
The political resurgence period of Native Americans changed
previously held values and practices. Now that the Native
Americans had regained some political power they were making
most of the decisions of their lands and resources, rather
than the Americans controlling them. Also, the Native
American economy improved as they gained political power. In
order to identify themselves, the Indians began to continue
traditions and languages passed on by their ancestors. In
America, today, there are still a few distinct Native
American tribes on reservations. These Native Americans
still try to pass down ancestral values and traditions to
their children. The tribes that are still around today have
their own land which they still regulate themselves. The
American Indians today are able to create their own laws on
the reservations. Ever since this era, Native Americans have
been given more independence. The Indians can now control
their land and people in what ever manner they wish. The
political resurgence era of Native Americans has left an
impact on America even until today.
Stephen Cornell wrote The Return of the Native: American
Indian Political Resurgence about the relations between
Indians and Whites. Cornell includes specific facts and
details derived from research and interviews. The book takes
you through the timeline of Indian and White relations. The
political resurgence of American Indians was a very
important point in history, changing the lives of both
American Indians and Whites. Cornell leads up to the point
in which the Native American turn around the political
sphere. The 1960s and 1970s saw the rebirth of Native
American power, Red Power.
review by Gabriela Ganddini
- Skocpol, Theda. Harvard University, 1.
- Cornell, Stephen. The Return of the Native: American
Indian Political Resurgence. New York: Oxford University
Press, Inc. 1988, 12.
- Cornell, Stephen 27
- Cornell, Stephen 40
- Cornell, Stephen 72
- Cornell, Stephen 92
- Cornell, Stephen 115
- Cornell, Stephen 144
- Cornell, Stephen 173
- Cornell, Stephen 197
- Cornell, Stephen 208
- Nemtusiak, Dan. “Review of the Return of the Native.”
Illinois State University. March 9, 1995. 1
- Wileaver, Heather. “Review: Return of the Native.”
Illinois State University. March 9, 1995. 1
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