Nitsitapiisinni: The Story of the Blackfoot People

J.R. (Jim) Miller is Canada Research Chair of History at the University
of Saskatchewan. He is the author of Skyscrapers Hide in the Heavens: A
History of Indian-White Relations in Canada and co-editor of the
Canadian Historical Review.

Assembled from an exhibition at Calgary’s Glenbow Museum on the
Blackfoot legacy, Nitsitapiisinni: The Story of the Blackfoot People is
a welcome example of cooperation between Aboriginal people and
non-Natives. A committee composed of both Blackfoot and non-Natives
worked with Museum staff to assemble the exhibition and the book. It is
also international in scope, examining the extended Blackfoot family on
both sides of the international border, for the most part ignoring a
boundary that in the eyes of the Blackfoot residing in Alberta and
Montana was artificial.

The book is divided equally into sections on the Blackfoot prior to
contact with Europeans and after interactions began. The former surveys
Blackfoot social organization, value systems, worldview, and education,
laying great stress on the positive, harmonious aspects of life before
the coming of the Europeans. Indeed, one topic that is striking by its
omission from this section is warfare, an extremely important part of
Plains culture. The latter half of the work traces Blackfoot relations
with newcomers in the fur trade, and then in the period of treaties and
reserves. Needless to say, the sections dealing with the reserve era are
especially gloomy—although ending coverage before World War I, when
the Blackfoot were at their lowest, probably exaggerates the negative
impact of Euro-Canadian governments on the First Nation.

The brief text is enhanced by many archival photographs that illustrate
effectively the message that the volume conveys. There are also a number
of maps, but unfortunately these are poorly reproduced and hard to read.
Nitsitapiisinni is an attractive and engaging introduction to a First
Nation that has played an important role in North American history.