Beyond Blood Quantum

In the second volume of The Great Vanishing Act, voices from Indian Country convey the insidious impacts of the Indian Reorganization Act confronting the existential and pragmatic questions facing many Native Nations to determine who is—and who is not—a citizen. The voices of poets, parents, academics, activists, educators, young adults, and elders prompt conversations in consideration of shared cultural values and lived realities outside of the limited confines of blood quantum. 
Both informational and poetic, Beyond Blood Quantum: Refusal to Disappear is a guide for conversation in-community and a songline of voices grappling with contemporary Native identity and the sovereignty inherent in defining citizenship with analysis softened by appreciation for kin, land, and promises to future generations from the descendants of generations who continue to resist, who refuse to disappear. 

Megan M. Hill is the Senior Director of the Project on Indigenous Governance and Development and the Director of the Honoring Nations program at the Harvard Kennedy School. The core mission of the Project is to arm Indigenous people with the tools needed to (re)build their nations and govern effectively through research, teaching, leadership development, policy analysis, and pro bono advising for and with Native nations and communities. Its flagship program, Honoring Nations, is a national awards program that identifies, celebrates, and shares outstanding examples of tribal governance.

Norbert Hill, Oneida, is the former Area Director of Education and training for the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Hill's previous appointment was Vice President of the College of Menominee Nation for the Green Bay campus. Hill served as the executive director of the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) in New Mexico, a nonprofit organization providing funding for American Indians and Alaska Natives to pursue graduate and professional degrees.