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

Critical Indigeneities

by Brianna Theobald

This pathbreaking book documents the transformation of reproductive practices and politics on Indian reservations from the late nineteenth century to the present, integrating a localized history of childbearing, motherhood, and activism on the Crow Reservation in Montana with an analysis of trends affecting Indigenous women more broadly. As Brianna Theobald illustrates, the federal government and local authorities have long sought to control Indigenous families and women's reproduction, using tactics such as coercive sterilization and removal of Indigenous children into the white foster care system. But Theobald examines women's resistance, showing how they have worked within families, tribal networks, and activist groups to confront these issues. Blending local and intimate family histories with the histories of broader movements such as WARN (Women of All Red Nations), Theobald links the federal government's intrusion into Indigenous women's reproductive and familial decisions to the wider history of eugenics and the reproductive rights movement. She argues convincingly that colonial politics have always been--and remain--reproductive politics.

By looking deeply at one tribal nation over more than a century, Theobald offers an especially rich analysis of how Indigenous women experienced pregnancy and motherhood under evolving federal Indian policy. At the heart of this history are the Crow women who displayed creativity and fortitude in struggling for reproductive self-determination.

Genres: Nonfiction, Indigenous, History, Feminism, Race, Social Justice, Gender Studies

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2019

Reviews

[Kayleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredibly educational, well researched, and heartbreaking. an important read for any woman passionate about reproductive history and indigenous rights.

[JAYME · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a great read! It is one of the first books I've read for my Indigenous history class that had 100% new (to me) information, so it was very engaging and stimulating to read!

This book highlights the reproductive rights of women in the Crow nation, showing its development and decrease as reservations transformed indigenous culture. The role of governmental agencies and the federal government in general is crucial to the eradication of indigenous reproductive practices and access to healthcare. The formation of activist movements and governmental agencies is also highlighted in tandem with primary source-esque descriptions of Crow women's experiences dealing with these health-related changes.

Although this book has a lot of information in a small size, I think this is a great read for people who want to learn more about colonization and its specific effects. The information in this book is rarely included in the usual conversations of colonization, and I think it contributes refreshing and IMPORTANT perspectives.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic and nuanced worth with tremendously important research.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one of those books that added a hundred more things to my to read list. My brain is spilling over. It explains so much of how we got here and how much we have to do - and in a way that insists on connections. It's tragic that our public discourse around reproduction is solely about abortion. Missing the forest for the trees as usual.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

without a doubt, among the most incredible non fiction i have ever read. important and educational, careful in its wording and in its portrayal of both history and the present. read for my Gender in the US and Canadian West class at university and i cannot recommend this enough.

[David Martínez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focusing on birthing culture at Crow Nation, Theobald leads her readers through the substantial transition that Crow women--not to mention Indigenous women across the US--went through because of Indian Bureau and Indian Health Service intervention. Basically, this book is about how Crow women lost sovereignty over their bodies under the pretense that only modern medicine, ie white doctors and hospitals, could properly care for Indigenous women's children, from prenatal care to birth and childcare. At the same time, this book is about Indigenous resistance, namely the Crow women, female elders, and midwives who struggle against losing control over their children and culture. Sometimes they did this by simply refusing to go to the white man's hospital. Other times, as Susie Walking Bear and her husband Thomas Yellowtail, it was by Indigenizing healthcare on the reservation. Ultimately, as exemplified by the climatic chapter on Women of All Red Nations (WARN), Katsi Cook (Mohawk) and the modern midwifery movement, it's about seizing control over the care of their own bodies, and their children, in order to fight back against all of the liberties that have been taken with their healthcare, such as non-consensual sterilizations. So, then, why did I only give this book 4 stars? Because of how the discourse on Crow Nation women vanishes into the background by the time Theobald reaches the end of historical narrative. Even the epilogue, which purports at referencing current developments does little to account for the status of traditional Crow birthing culture as of 2018. According to one Crow woman I know, a former student of mine, traditional birthing culture, such as the use of midwives, is virtually non-existent now. What happened? Theobald does not give us an answer.

[Lahnabii · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this for a book club called The Other Shelf, after asking our readers for recommendations for books around the theme of reproductive justice - this book did not disappoint.

I've only given it a four as it is written in a scholarly style and so sometimes I struggled with the details, but the truths that the author has found by interviewing native American women and also hunting down government records provides a picture of the brutal colonisation of people who lived on reservations, and how they birthed their children. It's really a damnation of the flexible childrearing culture belonging to ancient traditions as put upon by the federal state, taking us all the way through to forced resettlements, illegal sterilisations and the eventual modernisation and change towards more nuclear families, as well as an awakening activism to all those wronged by government policy. There's lots to think about when reading this work, and at 177 pages it's really doable. The cover art is by a relative of the women that the author interviewed, an artist called Ben Pease. And you can read my colleague's review here ! https://thecorrespondent.com/255/poli...

[Courtney B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book that covers themes of the surveillance state, dangers of bureaucracy, and Native resistance/adaptability. It is also concise enough that students will actually read it. It gives a longer and more nuanced take on the forced sterilization narrative that I lecture on.

My only quibble is with the introduction, which is so far down the dissertation rabbit hole that my students can't really understand it.

[Josh Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written and critically important book. Outstanding research that draws from both archival and oral sources. It forces us to rethink how Native women shaped their own experiences with federal Indian policy.

[Lacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an in depth guide to the racism and government involvement in the lives of Indigenous people, specifically women.
I recommend for anyone interested in this subject, but take note that it is not the easiest of reads.

[Gail Johnson, Ph.D · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title is "Reproduction on the Reservation." But in my opinion, the book goes beyond the reservation and addresses all births in any race. Especially when it addresses fit individuals and unethical sterilization. Very deep. It's a good read for all adults.

[kingsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Sandra Oldfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written with a zoom in/zoom out approach to general history about reproductive rights and Indigenous as well as what happened on the Crow Reserve in early 20th Century to 1980