First nations, identity, and reserve life : the Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia / Simone Poliandri.

Dr. Poliandri is a cultural anthropologist specialized in Native American Studies. He holds a PhD from Brown University and is an elected member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

Simone Poliandri begins First Nations, Identity, and Reserve Life with a search for the criteria used by the Mi'kmaq to construct their identities, which are traced within the context of their different perceptions of community, tradition, spirituality, relationship with the Catholic Church, and the recent reevaluation of the iconic figure of late activist Annie Mae Aquash. Building on the notions of self-identification and ascribed identity as the primary components of identity, Poliandri argues that placing others at specific locations within the social landscape of their communities allows the Mi'kmaq to define and reinforce their own spaces by way of association, contrast, or both.