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"None Of Us Are Supposed To Be Here": Ethnicity, Nationality, And The Production Of Cherokee Histories, Julia M. Coates

American Studies ETDs

This work weaves three ideas. First, it initiates an investigation into ethnic and national identities among Cherokees in diaspora by offering a cursory analysis of over sixty interviews I recently conducted with Cherokees in California, Texas, and New Mexico. Second, it challenges two paradigms that permeate most histories of the Cherokees as they have been written: (1) the theme of racially-based intratribal conflict and (2) the theme of cultural loss resulting from assimilation. I challenge these paradigms by applying contemporary theory about racial, ethnic, and national identity construction. Third, the dissertation offers an alternate historical overview that is also based …