INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND STATE
SYSTEMS. By Richard J.
Perry. Austin, TX: University of Texas
Press (P.O. Box 7819, 78713-7819),
1996. Paperbound. 2 Pp. ISBN
Number 0-292-76599-1. $16.95.
The terms “invasion”, “genocide”,
“displacement” and “assimilation” go a
long way in describing U.S., Mexican,
Canadian, and Austalian historic
relationships with their
indigenous peoples. From Time
Immemorial is a study that chronicles
these and other conquerer/conquered
relationships from around the world
and identifies the common elements
that fire them. The author simply asks:
“Why do states deal with indigenous
populations the way they do?” and
“Why do indigenous peoples within
states behave the way they do?.
From Time Immemorial is broken into
three sections. The first gives an
overview of the development of states
and their interactions with indigenous
peoples. The second section examines
these relationships within the U.S.,
Mexico, Canada, and Australia
specifically. The last section is devoted
to examples of other state systems and
conclusions that can be drawn. From
Time Immemorial is fully indexed and
contains a complete list of citations.
Anita Cheek Moon, Member
Reviewers’ Consortium
