Social Distancing Reading List

All of us here at AIHREA hope that this newsletter finds you well in the midst of the response to COVID-19. We would like to encourage all of our subscribers to take every possible precaution to limit the spread of this virus and protect themselves and their communities. For more information on what you can do to prevent COVID-19's spread, we encourage you to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website here.

In an effort to support your practice of social distancing, we've come up with a brief list of some of our teams favorite books by Native authors in honor of Read Across America Day held earlier this month. Keep scrolling to see some of our picks and check in on last March's newsletter if you'd like more recommendations!

Race to the Sun
By Rebecca Roanhorse

​This is the debut young adult novel from adult novelist Rebecca Roanhorse, a Black Indigenous (Ohkay Owingeh or San Juan Pueblo) author from Northern New Mexico.  For this coming-of-age story, she draws on the oral tradition of her husband's tribe, the Dine or Navajo.  Race to the Sun tells the story of seventh-grader Nizhoni Begay and her brother Mac, who are descended from the Hero Twins on their mother's side.  They, along with Nizhoni's best friend Davery and the help of several Diyin Dine, go on a quest to save their father who has been captured by monsters.  Ultimately, their quest will save the world.  They must go to the four sacred mountains and collect the sacred stones, then teaming up with Spider Woman and the Sun, as well as their ancestor Monster Slayers.  They face numerous challenges along the way and learn what it truly means to be heroes.  This is an inspiring story of three young people who learn who they are and the importance of their heritage.  Complete with a glossary of Dine words, it weaves contemporary Native life with oral tradition to tell a story that is both uniquely Dine and resonant for individuals of any cultural background.  This is a great choice if you are trying to bring middle-school kids into the world of literature (reading age range is similar to the early Harry Potter novels).

-Christine Daley, Center Director (CAICH)

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Coyote Medicine: Lessons From Native American Healing
​By  Lewis Mehl-Madrona and William L. Simon 

​I feel like this book is a great read. The book is based on the author's experience as a practicing America Indian MD who has worked at major medical institutions who also has a gift for being able to heal as an   Indigenous "medicine man". He draws on his knowledge and experience from Indigenous healers and western medicine to identify the disruption in the body in order to help people heal and recover.

-Jason Hale, Research Instructor, Assistant Director for Community Engagement & Education

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Where I’m From: Poems from Sherman Indian School
By Kinsale Drake Hueston, Erika Guzman, Roger Sam Martinez, MJ Gonzalez, Alyanza Montez, Sarah-Pearl Hall, Dillion Dodson

This is a collection of poems done by Native American High School students of Sherman Indian High School located in Riverside, California. Before it was Sherman Indian High School it was Perris Indian School founded in 1892. It is currently a Native American boarding school ran by the BIE and BIA with children representing over 76 federally recognized tribes. Hueston is Navajo (Dine’) originally from Navajo Mountain, AZ but was raised in Southern California. In high school, she was named one of the National Student Poets and would volunteer at Sherman Indian High School to teach poetry. Hueston is currently a student at Yale University and is the founder of the digital space Changing Womxn Collective. She has been featured on Time Magazine, Indian Country Today, The Navajo Times, and more!

-Christina Haswood, Graduate Research Assistant (CAICH)

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Reproduction on the Reservation: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Colonialism in the Long Twentieth Century
By Brianna Theobald

Reproduction on the Reservation highlights the reproductive polices on Indian reservations from the nineteenth century to the present. This book provides insight to localized history of childbearing, motherhood, family roles, and activism on the Crow Reservation in Montana.  The author examines the Women of All Red Nations movement and links the federal governments intrusion into indigenous women’s reproductive and family decision to the wider history of the reproductive rights movement. 

-Jordyn Gunville, Predoctoral Fellow in Health Policy and Management, Research Associate (CAICH)

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The World We Use to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men
By Vine Deloria, Jr.

This is a fascinating  book of accounts of medicine men and the pre-contact ways of Native peoples. Deloria prefaces the book by emphasizing the importance of following the traditions of his people. I recommend this book because it is an example of how American Indians used to and continue to live with the environment around them. Deloria does a wonderful job in explaining the credibility of the excerpts and writes in a tactful easy to read style.  

-Sumanth Jain-Washburn, Research Assistant (CAIS)

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The River Is In Us: Fighting Toxics in a Mohawk Community
By: Elizabeth Hoover

In her debut The River Is In Us, anthropologist Elizabeth Hoover offers a timely look into environmental racism, decolonizing methodologies, and survivance in indigenous communities. Focusing on the impacts of toxic pollution in the Saint Lawrence River on Akwesasne, Hoover brings together the impact of pollutants on individual bodies as well as traditional subsistence strategies while highlighting the importance of community-based research practices in indigenous communities. A must read for any interested in the impacts of environmental racism and the ever-changing world of anthropological research in Indian Country.

- Ryan Goeckner, Research Associate (CAICH)

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