Canadian independent booksellers near you

Inventing the Savage
326 pages, 6 x 9
Paperback
Release Date:01 Apr 1998
ISBN:9780292770843
CA$40.95 add to cart button Add to cart
Shop Local
GO TO CART

Inventing the Savage

The Social Construction of Native American Criminality

University of Texas Press

Luana Ross writes, "Native Americans disappear into Euro-American institutions of confinement at alarming rates. People from my reservation appeared to simply vanish and magically return. [As a child] I did not realize what a 'real' prison was and did not give it any thought. I imagined this as normal; that all families had relatives who went away and then returned."

In this pathfinding study, Ross draws upon the life histories of imprisoned Native American women to demonstrate how race/ethnicity, gender, and class contribute to the criminalizing of various behaviors and subsequent incarceration rates. Drawing on the Native women's own words, she reveals the violence in their lives prior to incarceration, their respective responses to it, and how those responses affect their eventual criminalization and imprisonment. Comparisons with the experiences of white women in the same prison underline the significant role of race in determining women's experiences within the criminal justice system.

Luana Ross (Salish) is Associate Professor of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies and Co-Director, Native Voices at the University of Washington.
  • Acknowledgments Introduction
  • Part I. Colonization and the Social Construction of Deviance
    • 1. Worlds Collide: New World, New Indians
    • 2. Racializing Montana: The Creation of "Bad Indians" Continues
  • Part II. Creating Dangerous Women: Narratives of Imprisoned Native American and White Women
    • 3. Prisoner Profile: Past and Present
    • 4. Lives Dictated by Violence
    • 5. Experiences of Women in Prison: "They Keep Me at a Level Where They Can Control Me"
    • 6. Rehabilitation or Control: "What Are They Trying to Do? Destroy Me?"
    • 7. Prison Subculture: "It's All a Game and It Doesn't Make Sense to Me"
    • 8. Motherhood Imprisoned: Images and Concerns of Imprisoned Mothers
    • 9. Double Punishment: Weak Institutional Support for Imprisoned Mothers
    • 10. Rehabilitation and Healing of Imprisoned Mothers
    • 11. Narrative of a Native Woman on the Outside: Gloria Wells Norlin (Ka min di tat)
  • Epilogue
  • Appendix: Violations and Descriptions
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index
Find what you’re looking for...
Stay Informed

Receive the latest UBC Press news, including events, catalogues, and announcements.


Read past newsletters

Free shipping on online orders over $40

Publishers Represented
UBC Press is the Canadian agent for several international publishers. Visit our Publishers Represented page to learn more.