Description: "This book examines how America's imagined frontier history shaped the thinking of philosopher John Dewey. It explores how America's most prominent philosopher of democracy and education articulated his ideas in part by invoking imaginary Indians, while utterly failing to account for his Indigenous contemporary's struggle to achieve self-determination in school"--Publisher's description.
Brief description: Matthew Villeneuve (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe descent) is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Review Quotes: "Instrumental Indiansis a monumental achievement. Matthew Villeneuve does not simply indict Dewey for his lifelong instrumental treatment of Indigenous people. He shows how we need to fundamentally rethink Dewey's pragmatism in light ofthis history."-- "Elizabeth Anderson, author of Hijacked: How Neoliberalism Turned the Work Ethic Against Workers and How Workers Can Take It Back"