The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was the US government's attempt to define who 'Indians' were. Among the criteria the act set was a blood quantum, which declared that 'Indians' were "all other persons of one-half or more Indian blood". Today, many tribes wrestle with the legacy of blood quantum and 'Indian' identity, as they work to manage tribal enrollment and social services. As the bloodlines grow increasingly diluted, within a few generation, recognized tribes might legally disappear. Through essays, personal stories, case studies, satire, and poetry, The Great Vanishing Act  brings together writers from around the world to explore the biological and cultural metaphor of blood quantum, the most critical issue facing Indigenous populations in the twenty-first century.  The Great Vanishing Act provides incisive criticism and warning regarding colonially inspired and federally promulgated modes of American Indian assimilation and annihilation - most notable the Anglo-American racial notion of blood quantum -- Gabriel S. Galanda, Galanda Broadman, PLLC This extraordinary, wildly informative book provides deep insight to the challenges Native America faces with blood quantum. The book could very well inspire Native America to consciously and deeply rethink how our tribes have been delineated by blood quantum policy and its pure intent to extinguish our people -- Richard Luarkie, CEO, Emerging Equities Solutions Group, Former Governor for Pueblo of Laguna >>>Hometown: Wisconsin The Great Vanishing Act: Blood Quantum and the Future of Native Nations By Kathleen Ratteree, Norbert Hill Fulcrum Publishing Copyright © 2017 Kathleen Ratteree and Norbert Hill All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-68275-065-0 Contents Foreword, Acknowledgments, Preface, Cultural Metaphor, Love in the Time of Blood Quantum, It's in the Blood, and in the Earth – Haudenosaunee Descent and Identity, Good Guidance, Walking in Two Worlds: the Native American College Experience, Trickster Teaches the Prairie Dogs How to Disenroll Their Members, A Fraction of Love, Bloodflow, Decolonizing History, Vampire Policy is Bleeding Us Dry – Blood Quantums, Begone!, Bleeding Out: Histories and Legacies of "Indian Blood", Decolonizing Colonial Constructions of Indigenous Identity: A Conversation Between Debra Harry and Leonie Pihama, Race and Sovereignty, Decolonizing Biology and Demography, Twentieth Century Tribal Blood Politics: Policy, Place, and Descent, Who Counts? Indians and the U.S. Census, Ndn DNA, (Re)building the Lahui (Hawaiian Nation), Policy, Law, and Nation Building, "Making Ourselves Whole with Words: A Short History of White Earth Anishinaabeg Tribal Citizenship Criteria, Blood Quantum: The Mathematics of Ethnocide, What Can Tribal Child Welfare Policy Teach Us About Tribal Citizenship?, Blood Quantum: Fractionated Land, Fractionated People, Reconsidering Blood Quantum Criteria for the Expansion of Tribal Jurisdiction, Blood, Identity, and the Ainu Society in Contemporary Japan, Where To Go From Here? Moving Forward, From Tribal Members to Native Nation Citizens, We Chose This, Now What?What Comes After Blood Quantum?, Applying Indigenous Values to Contemporary Tribal Citizenship:Challenge and Opportunity, Contributor Biographies, About the Editors, CHAPTER 1 Love in the Time of Blood Quantum by Adrienne Keene "Every Native born into this world is a victory against colonialism and attempted genocide. You are the resistance. You are hope made flesh." — Ruth Hopkins Dakota/Lakota Last year, I sat in the back of a lecture hall filled with Native students attending Ivy League institutions. We were gathered together for the annual All Ivy Native summit, where American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students from each of the eight Ivy League schools (plus a handful of other local/elite schools) gather to socialize, commiserate, and discuss important issues in Indian Country. In this session, students were engaged in an activity comparing "Western success" to "Native success." As a PowerPoint slide reading "Western success" showed on a bright screen, students yelled out terms like "money!" "a good job!" "power!" "individual success!", and a student facilitator transcribed onto the chalkboard. As we transitioned to Native success, the tone shifted. "Taking care of family!" "Community connection!" "Giving back!" There were slight murmurs of agreement with each. "Marrying someone from your tribe!" The crowd erupted in laughter, but also claps, snaps, and sounds of agreement. "Having Indian babies!", and the noise grew louder, until the facilitator called the group back to order. At the time, I laughed and whistled along with the crowd, and only later did I reflect on the moment and wonder what it meant that a group of highly successful, highly educated young Natives — in many ways poised to be the next leaders of Indian Country — reacted most strongly to "Native su