Compte-rendu : Brian Joseph Gilley. A Longhouse Fragmented, Ohio Iroquois Autonomy in the Nineteenth Century.

Emmanuelle Perez Tisserant (1, 2)

1 UMR 8168 - Mondes Américains
2 FRAMESPA - France, Amériques, Espagne – Sociétés, pouvoirs, acteurs

This short book by Brian J. Gilley deals with a group of Native Americans of Ohio, the Sandusky Senecas, around the time of their removal to Indian Territory in 1831. This group, the author argues strongly, is part of the Iroquois culture, something that according to him has been denied to them by ehtnohistory until now. There is a stake in this proposition because the Iroquois are an emblematic native group in the Eastern United States: the "Six Nations" being sometimes described as an influence on the federal institutions of the United States. 1 As the title and cover suggest, the author's main argument is the continuing importance of the Longhouse, as a building and an institution, among the Sandusky Senecas, a signature feature of Iroquois culture. The case of this people also offers an opportunity to study the continuities and adaptation of a community through time and space, against the pressures of colonizers and the challenge of distance. Gilley wants to evidence the values and practices that held together the group of people under his focus, even while they were experiencing historical change.

Domaines: Histoire; Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie

Emmanuelle Perez Tisserant. Compte-rendu : Brian Joseph Gilley. A Longhouse Fragmented, Ohio Iroquois Autonomy in the Nineteenth Century.. Itinerario, 2016, pp.347-349. ⟨10.1017/S0165115316000565⟩. ⟨halshs-01888770⟩