'During the Second World War, Indigenous people in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada mobilised en masse to support the war effort, despite withstanding centuries of colonialism. Their roles ranged from ordinary soldiers fighting on distant shores, to soldiers capturing Japanese prisoners on their own territory, to women working in munitions plants on the home front. R. Scott Sheffield and Noah Riseman examine Indigenous experiences of the Second World War across these four settler societies. Informed by theories of settler colonialism, martial race theory and military sociology, they show how Indigenous people and their communities both shaped and were shaped by the Second World War. Particular attention is paid to the policies in place before, during and after the war, highlighting the ways that Indigenous people negotiated their own roles within the war effort at home and abroad.' (Publication summary)
Contents: Indigenous peoples and settler colonialism to 1900 -- Indigenous peoples and settler militaries, 1900-1945 -- Engagement : indigenous voluntary military service -- Experiences of military life -- Mobilising indigeneity : indigenous knowledge, language, and culture in the war effort -- Home front experiences -- Contesting engagement : conscription and the limits of indigenous collaboration -- Homecomings : transition to peace, veterans' return, and access to veterans' benefits -- Rehabilitating assimilation : post-war reconstruction and indigenous policy reform.
'In Indigenous Peoples and the Second World War R. Scott Sheffield and Noah Riseman have crafted a detailed comparative study of Indigenous peoples – Native Americans of the United States, First Nations peoples of Canada, the Māori people of New Zealand and the Indigenous peoples of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands – and their military service during World War II. As one can imagine, each community’s participation in the war was rich and varied, but as Tom Holm emphasises in his foreword, ‘their experiences before, during and following their return home were remarkably similar’ (xi).' (Introduction)
'In Indigenous Peoples and the Second World War R. Scott Sheffield and Noah Riseman have crafted a detailed comparative study of Indigenous peoples – Native Americans of the United States, First Nations peoples of Canada, the Māori people of New Zealand and the Indigenous peoples of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands – and their military service during World War II. As one can imagine, each community’s participation in the war was rich and varied, but as Tom Holm emphasises in his foreword, ‘their experiences before, during and following their return home were remarkably similar’ (xi).' (Introduction)
