Robbie Ethridge’s book, From Chicaza to Chickasaw, won the Mooney Award from the Southern Anthropological Society.
The book traces the metamorphosis of the Native South from first contact in 1540 to the dawn of the eighteenth century, when indigenous people no longer lived in a purely Indian world but rather on the edge of an expanding European empire. Using a framework that Ethridge calls the “Mississippian shatter zone” to explicate these tumultuous times, From Chicaza to Chickasaw examines the European invasion and the collapse of the precontact Mississippian world and the restructuring of discrete chiefdoms into coalescent Native societies in a colonial world. The story of one group—the Chickasaws—is closely followed through this period.
REVIEWS
–American Historical Review
–Lone Star Book Review“For those interested in the specific path by which the tribal Chickasaw entity arose, this volume is invaluable. . . . Recommended. Graduate students, faculty.”
–Choice“[A] sweeping regional history. . . . With skillfully synthesized archaeological and documentary evidence, Ethridge illuminates the Native South in its earliest colonial context and sheds new light on the profound upheaval and cultural transformation experienced by the region’s first people.”
–Lone Star Book Review
“A scholarly and recommended read . . . a strong addition for historical collections with a focus on the discovery of the new world.”
–The Midwest Book Review
“Robbie Ethridge has done a service in compiling and synthesizing all the new work into one much-needed volume. . . . A must-read for students of both Native-American and southern history.”
–The Journal of American History