Description: In Imagining Sovereignty, Carlson explores sovereignty as a discursive middle ground between tribal communities and the United States as a settler-colonial power. His work reveals the complementary ways in which legal and literary texts have generated politically significant representations of the world, which in turn have produced particular effects on readers and advanced the cause of tribal self-determination.
Brief description: David J. Carlson is Professor of English at California State University-San Bernardino and the author of Sovereign Selves: American Indian Autobiography and the Law.
Review Quotes: "A force that propelled the rise of modern Native Nations, sovereignty is the glue that holds Indian tribes together. Imagining Sovereignty pulls together contemporary thinking about this threshold concept, its definition, nature, and usages. David J. Carlson explores how law and literature can strengthen the foundation for tribal existence. His book is a must-read for those concerned about indigenous survival and well-being in the United States."--Walter Echo-Hawk, author of In The Light of Justice: The Rise of Human Rights in Native America and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples