Conquest - Andrea Smith

'Smith has no fear. She challenges conventional activist thinking about global and local, sexism and racism, genocide and imperialism. But more, in every chapter she tries to answer the key question: What is to be done? Many remedies proposed by well-meaning activists produce more of the very damage they purport to undo, because the analysis leading to action fails to take seriously the structural connections that fuse the range of harms discussed in this volume. Conquest is unsettling, ambitious, brilliant, disturbing: read it, debate it, use it.' Ruthie Gilmore*BR**BR*'Andrea Smith offers a powerful analysis of sexual violence that reaches far beyond the dominant theoretical understandings, brilliantly weaving together feminist explanations of violence against Native women, the historical data regarding colonialism and genocide, and a strong critique of the current responses to the gender violence against women of color. As a passionate activist and a deeply respected scholar, Smith brings her experience working on the ground to this important project, rendering Conquest one of the most significant contributions to the literature in Native Studies, Feminism, and Social Movement Theory in recent years.'
Beth E. Richie, Head, Department of African American Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago*BR**BR*'Whether it is our reliance on the criminal justice system to protect women from violence or the legitimacy of the U.S. as a colonial nation-state, Andy Smith's incisive and courageous analysis cuts through many of our accepted truths and reveals a new way of knowing rooted in Native women's histories of struggle. More than a call for action, this book provides sophisticated strategies and practical examples of organizing that simultaneously take on state and interpersonal violence. Conquest is a "must read" not only for those concerned with violence against women and Native sovereignty, but also for antiracist, reproductive rights, environmental justice, antiprison, immigrant rights and antiwar activists.' Julia Sudbury, Canada Research Chair in Social Justice, Equity and Diversity, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto; Editor of Global Lockdown: Race, Gender and the Prison-Industrial Complex (Routledge 2005).*BR*.