Indigenous Communalism is a study of community building in Native communities, and considers what models might be drawn from the strategies of Indigenous groups for post-colonial communalism and native self-determination in contemporary global society. Drawing on her ethnographic work among the Akimel O'odham and the Wiradjuri, Carolyn Smith-Morris shows how communal work and culture help these communities form distinctive indigenous bonds.

Carolyn Smith-Morris is an associate professor of anthropology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She is the author of Diabetes among the Pima, editor of Diagnostic Controversy: Cultural Perspectives on Competing Knowledge in Healthcare, and co-editor of Chronic Conditions, Fluid States: Chronicity and the Anthropology of Illness. 

Preface
            Positioning                                                                                                     
            Acknowledgements                                                                                       
 
Introduction                                                                                                              
            To Begin, What is Communalism?                                                                
            Politics of Indigeneity - What is Indigenous?
            or
            Terms, Frames, and Representations                                                             
            Why is Communalism Missing                                                                      
            The Dangers of Communalism
            Communalism and Health                                                                             
            Community with the Name 'Gila River'                                                       
            Committing to Communal Rights of Indigenous Peoples                             
            Outline of the Book                                                                                       
 
Chapter 1 - Belonging                                                                                              
            Introductions                                                                                                 
            Relationships and Being Present                                                                   
            Building Consensus                                                                                       
            An Introduction to Communalism                                                                 
            The Dangers of Communalism
            The Touchstones of Belonging                                                                      
            Conclusion - More than Membership                                                            
 
Chapter 2 - Generation                                                                                           
            Individuals in a Communal Context                                                             
            Western Individualism                                                                                   
            Pima Individualism(s)                                                                                    
            Generating Community Out of Individuals                                                   
 
Chapter 3 - Representation                                                                                     
            Authority and Representation
            Representing Communal Knowledge                                                           
            Representation & Race - Communal Genetics                                              
            Representing Indigenous Diversity                                                               
 
Chapter 4 - Hybridity                                                                                              
            Hybridity and Human Community                                                                
            Extremes of Communalism                                                                            
            Individual/Communal Conflict at Gila River                                                
            Theories of Hybridity and Divisibility                                                           
The Communal Individual                                                                            
            Protecting the Communal Individual                                                            
 
Chapter 5 - Asserting Communalism                                                                     
            Case 1 - Communalism in Research                                                              
Case 2 - Communalism and the Body                                                           
Case 3 - Communalism in Healing                                                                
Fostering Communalism                                                                                
 
Chapter 6 - Indigenous Communalism - Global Implications                             
            Is There a Global Indigenous Communalism?                                               
            Place                                                                                                               
            Global Indigenous Communalism
            Foundations in Place
            Communalism and Rights
            Conclusion - Representing Communalism                                                    
 
Acknowledgments
 
Bibliography                                                                                                              
 
Index