Southern Ute Women: Autonomy and Assimilation on the Reservation, 1887-1934

by Katherine M. B. Osburn

After the passage of the Dawes Severalty Act in 1887, the Southern Ute Agency was the scene of an intense federal effort to assimilate the Ute Indians. The Southern Utes were to break up their common land holdings and transform themselves into middle-class patriarchal farm and pastoral families. In this assimilationist scheme, women were to surrender the considerable autonomy they enjoyed in traditional Ute society and become housebound homemakers, the “civilizers” of their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons. Southern Ute Women shows that these women accommodated Anglo ways that benefited them but refused to give up indigenous culture and ways that gave their lives meaning and bolstered personal autonomy. In spite of federal policies that stripped women of many legal rights, Southern Ute women demanded participation in political, economic, and legal decisions that affected their lives and insisted on retaining control over their marital and sexual behavior.

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

Reviews

[Ailsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book at a thrift store (where Ive found the best books apparently) and I was instantly hooked. The author is a historian and professor at the time of the books publication in 1998. It isn’t a narrative by any means, with little commentary. The history is what has compelled me, shocking in parts but also very informative. So much so I’ve chosen to focus on this topic for my final essay in my English 1010 class. Well anyways, I haven’t written a review before but I was surprised there aren’t any written reviews for this already so I’ll be the first! Good good read!