Sovereign Entrepreneurs - (Critical Indigeneities) by Courtney Lewis (Paperback)

About the Book

"[A] study of small businesses and small business owners who are members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). The EBCI has an especially long history of incorporated, citizen-owned businesses located on their reservation. Many people stop with casinos or natural-resource intensive enterprise when they think of Indigenous-owned businesses, but on Qualla Boundary today, Indigenous entrepreneurship and economic independence extends to art galleries, restaurants, a bookstore, a funeral parlor, and more. Lewis's fieldwork followed these businesses before and after the Great Recession, and against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding Cherokee-owned casino. From this source base, Lewis reveals how these EBCI businesses have contributed to an economic sovereignty that empowers and sustains their nation both culturally and politically. This is a generative concept that helps to define what a distinctly Indigenous form of entrepreneurship looks like"--

Book Synopsis

By 2009, reverberations of economic crisis spread from the United States around the globe. As corporations across the United States folded, however, small businesses on the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) continued to thrive. In this rich ethnographic study, Courtney Lewis reveals the critical roles small businesses such as these play for Indigenous nations. The EBCI has an especially long history of incorporated, citizen-owned businesses located on their lands. When many people think of Indigenous-owned businesses, they stop with prominent casino gaming operations or natural-resource intensive enterprises. But on the Qualla Boundary today, Indigenous entrepreneurship and economic independence extends to art galleries, restaurants, a bookstore, a funeral parlor, and more.

Lewis's fieldwork followed these businesses through the Great Recession and against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding EBCI-owned casino. Lewis's keen observations reveal how Eastern Band small business owners have contributed to an economic sovereignty that empowers and sustains their nation both culturally and politically.

Review Quotes

"A must read for anyone that has a business or is looking to start one on tribal property. . . . Covers and takes a deep dive into Cherokee culture and bridges it with our history to provide all Native Nations with a sense of self-awareness and to empower native communities."--Cherokee One Feather

"In this fascinating study, Lewis shows how diversity can overcome the dangers of a nation's relying on one economic product--casinos--and how individual and household entrepreneurship provides stability as well as room for necessary innovation."--CHOICE

"Lewis provides an in-depth analysis of Cherokee small businesses and their role for economic and political sovereignty. . . . Her research opens the door for more contributions in the area of small-business ownership and economic sovereignty in both rural and urban areas by Indigenous entrepreneurs."--Native American and Indigenous Studies

"Well-written. . . . [Lewis's] research contributes to current anthropological and interdisciplinary debates in development studies . . . [and] includes many constructive ideas on how to strengthen and support Indigenous peoples' centuries-long quest for economic sovereignty."--Exertions

About the Author

Courtney Lewis (Cherokee Nation) is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of South Carolina@-Columbia.