Description
For An Amerindian Autohistory is a book by Wendat scholar Georges Sioui who presents a First Nation perspective for the study of Indigenous history. He argues that these guidelines must be respected if the self-image and social ethics of First Nations are to be understood and preserved and shows that they provide a way to greatly improve the way Indigenous people and more recent immigrants to the Americas perceive each other. Sioui has produced a work not only of metahistory but of moral reflections. He contrasts Euroamerican ethnocentrism and feelings of racial superiority with the Amerindian belief in the "Great Circle of Life" and shows that human beings must establish intellectual and emotional connections with the entire living world if they hope to achieve abundance, quality, and peace for all. He does not down play the role of the European contact period but he is convinced that the greatness of Amerindians does not lie only in the past but that Indigenous peoples will play an even more important role in the future by providing ideas essential to creating a viable way of life for North America and the world. Georges E. Sioui is Coordinator of the Aboriginal Studies Program at the University of Ottawa.