"Vaudeville Indians" on Global Circuits, 1880s-1930s (The Henry Roe Cloud Series on American Indians and Modernity)

"Vaudeville Indians" on Global Circuits, 1880s-1930s (The Henry Roe Cloud Series on American Indians and Modernity)

Christine Bold
$65.00
Publication Date: June 30th, 2022
Publisher:
Yale University Press
ISBN:
9780300257052
Pages:
400

Description

Uncovering hidden histories of Indigenous performers in vaudeville and in the creation of western modernity and popular culture
 
Drawing from little-known archives, Christine Bold brings to light forgotten histories of Indigenous performers in vaudeville and, by extension, popular culture and modernity. Vaudeville was both a forerunner of modern mass entertainment and a rich site of popular Indigenous performance and notions of Indianness at the turn of the twentieth century. Tracing the stories of artists Native to Turtle Island (North America) performing across the continent and around the world, Bold illustrates a network of more than 300 Indigenous and Indigenous-identifying entertainers, from Will Rogers to Go-won-go Mohawk to Princess Chinquilla, who upend vaudeville’s received history. These fascinating stories cumulatively reveal vaudeville as a space in which the making of western modernity both denied and relied on living Indigenous presence, and in which Indigenous artists negotiated agency and stereotypes through vaudeville performance.

About the Author

Christine Bold is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Professor at the University of Guelph. She has written and edited six books—two of them multiple award winners—as well as numerous articles, chapters, and editorial projects. She lives in Guelph, ON.

Praise for "Vaudeville Indians" on Global Circuits, 1880s-1930s (The Henry Roe Cloud Series on American Indians and Modernity)

“Bold’s work sets a high standard for both histories of vaudeville and the ways in which Indigenous performers shaped it.”—Cecilia Morgan, Histoire sociale/Social History

“This volume brings a voice to these popular performers, who were mostly unknown and not included in most vaudeville histories.”—C. L. Clements, Choice

“A trove of research into the lives of Native American performers. Mixed with her own insight into the topic, [Bold] consults with Native scholars and performers of today. This book is an excellent resource for anyone looking to delve deeper into the history of Native American sovereignty and performing arts.”—Anna Davis, Chronicles of Oklahoma

Winner of the Thomas J. Lyon Book Award, sponsored by the Western Literature Association

2022 George Freedley Memorial Award Finalist, sponsored by the Theatre Library Association

“An exceptional exploration of Aboriginal people in show business from the 1880s to the 1930s. It takes on the thorny question of just what ‘Indianness’ was and how it was constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed anew.”—Thomas King, author of The Inconvenient Indian

“A tour-de-force of vivid storytelling and discovery. Bold combines dense archival research with rich analysis that draws from her bountiful conversations with contemporary artists and vaudeville performers’ families.”—John Troutman, author of Kīkā Kila

“A dramatic and exquisite examination of material culture that unlocks clues into the performers’ own sense of self.”—Coll Thrush, University of British Columbia

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