Urban Indigeneities

Being Indigenous in the Twenty-First Century

Edited by Dana Brablec and Andrew Canessa

The University of Arizona Press

Today a majority of Indigenous peoples live in urban areas: they are builders and cleaners, teachers and lawyers, market women and masons, living in towns and cities surrounded by the people and pollution that characterize life for most individuals in the twenty-first century. Despite this basic fact, the vast majority of studies on Indigenous peoples concentrate solely on rural Indigenous populations.

Aiming to highlight these often-overlooked communities, this is the first book to look at urban Indigenous peoples globally and present the urban Indigenous experience—not as the exception but as the norm. The contributing essays draw on a wide range of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, architecture, land economy, and area studies, and are written by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars. The analysis looks at Indigenous people across the world and draws on examples not usually considered within the study of indigeneity, such as Fiji, Japan, and Russia.

Indigeneity is often seen as being “authentic” when it is practiced in remote rural areas, but these essays show that a vigorous, vibrant, and meaningful indigeneity can be created in urban spaces too. The book challenges many of the imaginaries and tropes of what constitutes “the Indigenous” and offers perspectives and tools to understand a contemporary Indigenous urban reality. As such, it is a must-read for anyone interested in the real lives of Indigenous people today.

Contributors
Aiko Ikemura Amaral
Chris Andersen
Giuliana Borea
Dana Brablec
Andrew Canessa
Sandra del Valle Casals
Stanislav Saas Ksenofontov
Daniela Peluso
Andrey Petrov
Marya Rozanova-Smith
Kate Stevens
Kanako Uzawa

Reviews
Editor

The authors explore urban indigeneity, the diverse political and cultural consequences of the rise of urban Indigenous communities. Using a remarkably diverse, global set of case studies, they describe the growing political stature of urban Indigenous peoples, the attenuation of rural practices as benchmark for identity, and the new Indigenous consciousness that emerges as Native life rebalances across urban and rural settings.’—Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld, co-author of Fast, Easy, and in Cash: Artisan Hardship and Hope in the Global Economy

Dana Brablec is an assistant professor in Race, Decoloniality and Intersectionality at the Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA), University of Amsterdam. She is the author of several articles published in Bulletin of Latin American Research, Sociology, and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

Andrew Canessa is a professor of anthropology at the University of Essex (UK). He is the author of Intimate Indigeneities and the editor of Género, complementariedades y exclusiones and Natives Making Nation.

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