The Work of Sovereignty: Tribal Labor Relations and Self-Determination at the Navajo Nation (Resident Scholar)
This is a pathbreaking book. In a compelling, nuanced tale, Kamper explores the complex interface between Native American politics and labor politics, between grassroots organizing and legal strategies, and between overlapping identities and oppressions. [The Work of Sovereignty] is a must-read for anyone in labor studies, Native American studies, and anyone interested in the real world of social justice organizing today. --Dana Frank, University of California, Santa CruzThis is a pathbreaking book. In a compelling, nuanced tale, Kamper explores the complex interface between Native American politics and labor politics, between grassroots organizing and legal strategies, and between overlapping identities and oppressions. [The Work of Sovereignty] is a must-read for anyone in labor studies, Native American studies, and anyone interested in the real world of social justice organizing today. --Dana Frank, University of California, Santa CruzThis book's goal is to view indigenous self-determination from the vantage point of work and workers...Kamper takes an on-the-ground approach to labor relations by summarizing a case study...the author presents a discussion of sovereignty and self-determination..that is probably new to most readers. --Richard O. Clemmer, Journal of Anthropological Research, vol. 67, 2011In examining Navajo workers' engagement with unions, Kamper discovers pragmatic strategies for pressuring tribal institutions seen as unresponsive to workers and local communities. Emphasizing that workers have constructed their own understandings of self-determination, Kamper demonstrates how local workplace struggles have informed the grounds upon which tribal politics, and Indian engagement with the broader American political economy, takes place. --Andrew Needham, Western Historical Quarterly, Summer 2012David Kamper shines the light on labor unions and their place in Indigenous economic development. Kamper argues, and I agree, that the focus of Indian economic development is too often on enterprise and natural resource development, and the governing systems, economics, and politics that support such endeavors.... His work issues a challenge to American Indian studies scholars to enhance the study of Indian labor law and workplace activism even further. --Michelle Hale, Wicazo Sa Review, Spring 2013