 | The Allotment Plot: Alice C. Fletcher, E. Jane Gay, and Nez Perce Survivance Subjects: Nez Percé Indians -- Land tenure; Nez Percé Indians -- History -- 19th century; Nez Percé Indians -- Government relations; Indian allotments -- Idaho -- Nez Percé Indian Reservation -- History -- 19th century; Allotment of land -- Idaho -- Nez Percé India; The Allotment Plot reexamines the history of allotment on the Nez Perce Reservation from 1889 to 1892 to account for and emphasize the Nez Perce side of the story. By including Nez Perce responses to allotment, Nicole Tonkovich argues that the assimilationist aims of allotment ultimately failed due in large part to the agency of the Nez Perce people themselves throughout the allotment process. The Nez Perce were actively involved in negotiating the terms under which allotment would proceed and were simultaneously engaged in ongoing efforts to protect their stories and other cultural properties from institutional appropriation by the allotment agent, Alice C. Fletcher, a respected anthropologist, and her photographer and assistant, E. Jane Gay. The Nez Perce engagement in this process laid a foundation for the long-term survival of the tribe and its culture. Nicole Tonkovich is professor emerita of literature and American Studies at the University of California-San Diego. She is the coauthor of Trading Gazes: Euro-American Women Photographers and Native North Americans, 1880-1940 and the author of Dividing the Reservation: Alice C. Fletcher's Nez Perce Allotment Diaries and Letters, 1889-1892 . |
