Fowler, Loretta 1944-

PERSONAL:

Born May 20, 1944. Education: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ph.D., 1970.

ADDRESSES:

Home—OK. Office—Department of Anthropology, 455 W. Lindsey, Dale Hall Tower 521, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

University of Oklahoma, Norman, department of anthropology, professor emeritus.

WRITINGS:

Arapahoe Politics, 1851-1978: Symbols in Crises of Authority, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 1982.

Shared Symbols, Contested Meanings: Gros Ventre Culture and History, 1778-1984, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 1987.

The Arapaho, Chelsea House Publishers (New York, NY), 1989, reprinted, 2006.

Tribal Sovereignty and the Historical Imagination: Cheyenne-Arapaho Politics, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 2002.

The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

(Editor, with Daniel M. Cobb) Beyond Red Power: American Indian Politics and Activism since 1900, School for Advanced Research (Santa Fe, NM), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and educator Loretta Fowler was born on May 20, 1944. She earned her doctoral degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1970, then turned to teaching, eventually taking a position on the faculty of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, where she is now a profes- sor emeritus in the department of anthropology. She is an expert on Native American studies and has completed extensive research of various tribes, spending a great deal of time at the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming to observe and learn firsthand. The results of her research, including extensive notes on her findings, are housed at the American Heritage Center in Laramie, Wyoming. Over the course of her career, Fowler has written a number of books on Native Americans and on the Arapaho tribe in particular, including Arapahoe Politics, 1851-1978: Symbols in Crises of Authority; Shared Symbols, Contested Meanings: Gros Ventre Culture and History, 1778-1984; The Arapaho; Tribal Sovereignty and the Historical Imagination: Cheyenne-Arapaho Politics; and The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains. She also edited Beyond Red Power: American Indian Politics and Activism since 1900 with Daniel M. Cobb.

Tribal Sovereignty and the Historical Imagination addresses the modern concept of life for Native Americans, avoiding the stereotypical depiction of a people forced by federal mandates to adhere to a strict set of laws and policies designed solely to govern their race, and who spend their time enacting ritualistic dances and ceremonies. Instead, Fowler provides a more up-to-date representation of a complex group governed by several different sets of laws and struggling to combine their rich heritage and pride in their ancestry with current ambitions and drive for success in the modern world. As with several of her books, Fowler focuses her attention primarily on the Arapaho tribe. Over the course of Tribal Sovereignty and the Historical Imagination, Fowler examines various federal policies pertaining to Native Americans and their effect on this group of people. As well, she addresses internal political issues in the tribe and culture clashes that occur between the Arapaho and another major tribe still thriving in the plains area of Oklahoma, the Cheyennes. She then analyzes how various aspects of Native American life overlap and affect each other. Robert W. Galler, in a review for H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, remarked that "Fowler's work distinguishes itself in its broad chronological scope and analysis of complex contemporary issues. Few ethno-historians have provided such historical depth and rich ethnographic detail in the same work to address present-day issues."

The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains is one volume of a reference series that examines Native American history and culture. It is meant to serve as an overall survey of the topics, providing readers with an insight into the lives of the Plains Indians, and addressing a variety of subjects. Fowler organizes her topic into four parts: History and Culture; People, Places, and Events; Chronology; and Resources. The first section of the book tackles the Great Plains environment and the ways in which it affected the Native Americans who inhabited it, including how changes in the weather and other influences that may have caused migrations. The first section of the book also analyzes how Native American culture was affected by Europeans that visited or settled in the region and examines expansion, daily life on the reservation, and reactions to outsiders such as traders and new settlers to the Great Plains. Ultimately, this section of The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains addresses the U.S. government's plan to redistribute Native Americans to smaller and predetermined parcels of land, and how Native Americans dealt with the relocation. Following this analysis, which makes up the bulk of the book, Fowler includes photographs, a glossary of key individuals and events, a timeline of pertinent occurrences, and an annotated bibliography. Roger L. Nichols, in a review for the Historian, remarked that The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains is "packed with information," and is a "clear and easy to use book [that] achieves the author's purpose of giving an easy entry into the history and culture of Plains groups throughout most of American history."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Anthropologist, March 1, 1989, Alice Kehoe, review of Shared Symbols, Contested Meanings: Gros Ventre Culture and History, 1778-1984, p. 205.

American Historical Review, April 1, 1983, review of Arapahoe Politics, 1851-1978: Symbols in Crises of Authority, p. 480; February 1, 1989, Alice B. Kehoe, review of Shared Symbols, Contested Meanings, p. 203; February 1, 2003, review of Tribal Sovereignty and the Historical Imagination: Cheyenne-Arapaho Politics, p. 220.

American Indian Quarterly, March 22, 1989, Thomas W. Kavanagh, review of Shared Symbols, Contested Meanings, p. 209.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, January 1, 2003, M.L. Tate, review of Tribal Sovereignty and the Historical Imagination, p. 866; April 1, 2004, N.C. Greenberg, review of The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains, p. 1452.

Chronicle of Higher Education, January 15, 1992, review of Shared Symbols, Contested Meanings, p. 8.

Ethnohistory, March 22, 1989, Ernest Schusky, review of Shared Symbols, Contested Meanings, p. 201.

Historian, March 22, 2007, Roger L. Nichols, review of The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains, p. 113.

Journal of American History, June 1, 1983, Michael L. Lawson, review of Arapahoe Politics, 1851-1978, p. 160; September 1, 1988, Herbert T. Hoover, review of Shared Symbols, Contested Meanings, p. 589; September 1, 2003, Paul C. Rosier, review of Tribal Sovereignty and the Historical Imagination, p. 696.

Journal of American Studies, April 1, 1990, review of Arapahoe Politics, 1851-1978, p. 110.

Journal of Ethnic Studies, September 22, 1989, David Reed Miller, review of Shared Symbols, Contested Meanings, p. 123.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, March 1, 2006, Bruce Granville Miller, review of Tribal Sovereignty and the Historical Imagination, p. 220.

Library Journal, June 1, 2003, John Burch, review of The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains, p. 138.

Reference & Research Book News, November 1, 2003, review of The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains, p. 54; February 1, 2006, review of The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains; February 1, 2008, review of Beyond Red Power: American Indian Politics and Activism since 1900.

Western Historical Quarterly, February 1, 1989, Michael L. Tate, review of Shared Symbols, Contested Meanings, p. 59; December 22, 2004, Willard Hughes Rollings, review of The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains, p. 518.

ONLINE

CRM: The Journal of Heritage Stewardship Online,http://crmjournal.cr.nps.gov/ (August 13, 2008), review of The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains.

H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online,http://www.h-net.org/ (July 1, 2004,) Robert W. Galler, review of Tribal Sovereignty and the Historical Imagination.

University of Oklahoma Department of Anthropology Web site,http://www.ou.edu/anthropology/ (August 13, 2008), author faculty profile.

Wyoming Authors Wiki,http://wiki.wyomingauthors.org/ (August 13, 2008), author biographical and professional information.