Critically Sovereign

"Critically Sovereign is pure Indigenous brilliance from start to finish, making intelligent, incisive, and elegant interventions in fields often wrought by division and controversy. These outstanding essays embody the highest levels of excellence and ground conversations around gender, sexuality, and feminist studies in the proper frame—Indigenous self-determination. This is a book I've been waiting for." - Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, author of Dancing on Our Turtle's Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re-Creation, Resurgence, and a New Emergence

"This volume argues compellingly that Indigenous peoplehood, landed inhabitance, and interrogations of the power of settler states should focalize theories of gender and sexuality, and that gender and sexual politics must be understood as being key to the very question of indigeneity within Indigenous studies. Critically Sovereign will have a lasting impact within numerous fields for years to come." - Scott L. Morgensen, author of Spaces between Us: Queer Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Decolonization

“Critically Sovereign is not only a necessary reading for those studying Indigenous politics, it should also be considered a required reading for scholars and activists who study race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and colonialism.”

"Through a collective of brilliant voices, the essays in this book grapple with the significance of gender, sexuality, and politics with searing wisdom. Critically Sovereign gives readers a reason to hope for a decolonized tomorrow." - Dianca Potts, Signature

"A powerful and urgently needed anthology. . . . Critically Sovereign is an essential text for anyone engaged in feminist and queer theory or projects of decolonization." - Stephanie Lumsden, American Indian Culture and Research Journal

"Critically Sovereign offers a strong addition to scholarship or graduate-level coursework engaged with global feminisms. . . . Critically Sovereign provides a timely entry point into the seismic stakes and shifts within Native American and Indigenous studies." - Kirisitina Sailiata, Feminist Review

"This collection rejects the elimination of the Indigenous through the erasure of gender and sexuality. For the queer, femme, and two-spirit people at the center of Indigenous movements for autonomy and freedom, this is a deeply important project. Critically Sovereign is an opening salvo in what I hope is a burgeoning intellectual and intersectional field."
  - Anne Spice, Women's Studies Quarterly

"For those of us seeking to grow our equity work in educational settings, reading essays like those in this collection allow us to privilege-check our own approaches. The denseness of the material aside, each piece acts as a motivator for equity work and as a reminder that this work cannot be done in a vacuum, and can never be complete without an understanding of intersectionality." - Tracey Germa, Education Forum

"Most impressive in this collection is perhaps Barker's introduction, which seems to insist on historically and geographically situating this text within a constellation of movements, both political and scholarly. In fact, Barker's introduction is so thorough that I imagine it could become standard reading within Indigenous studies and feminist studies classes as a way to map these fields for both emerging and established students. . . . The collection as a whole pushes readers to challenge traditional notions of rights ideologies that have ultimately enabled further legitimacy to be exercised by the settler state." - Jamaica Osorio, Hypatia Reviews Online

"This book would be extremely beneficial to anyone studying Indigenous studies, gender and sexuality studies, American studies, and particularly those in the fields of law or literature although the discipline-specific terminology throughout can make it inaccessible at times." - Caroline ‘Charlie’ Williams, European Journal of American Culture