Cultural Anthropology

How do you feel about your name? Names and how we feel about them are linked to our sense of self-identity. For people with non-Western names in Western English-speaking contexts, this relationship can be complicated. My Name Is explores verbatim narratives from research participants who have non-Western names, examining how individuals view their relationships with their names, how names impact self-identity, and how names can correlate to the pressure to conform with westernized English norms. An extension of the My Name Is® research project and award-winning documentary, this book shares valuable lived experience as well as looking at the importance of getting names right.

Who has the right to represent history, who has a story that is considered worth telling, and what does that mean for our culture as a whole right now? Drawing directly from their own family's history, authors Lara Neel and Lisa Neel critique the misrepresentation and erasure of Native American history. Exploring the intersection of womanhood and identity in the Cherokee Nation, Representing the Fashion of Our Nineteenth Century Cherokee Ancestor: Culture Not Costume follows Lara and Lisa's investigation into the life and murder of their maternal ancestor and the misrepresentative discussions that have followed. By using academic research to unravel deeply ingrained historical contradictions and construct a woman-focused Native American history, Lara and Lisa make a case for the importance of perspective and representation in the modern living history community, and the lasting effects misrepresentation has on one of the largest Native American tribes in the United States. Providing an invaluable critique into incomplete depictions of Native American communities and their women's stories, this book is ideal reading for students of Indigenous Studies, Women's History, Gender Studies, Textile History, and Ethnic Studies.