The Gift of the Face

“[Zamir’s] analysis is often novel and compelling.” — Journal of American History

“Insightful and persuasive…a valuable contribution to several disciplines.” — Native American and Indigenous Studies

“An important and significant new contribution to the scholarship of Native American studies, and also to anthropology, American history, photography, and the study of visual culture.” — ARLIS/NA Reviews

“Bold and original.” — Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

“The consistent presence of Native agency is brought stunningly to light by Zamir’s often brilliant analyses. Against an all-too-frequent nihilism in postcolonial studies, Zamir offers a more nuanced pathway to reassessing Curtis’s monumental achievement-however flawed ethically and ethnographically it may be-in the history of intercultural interpretation.”—Peter M. Whiteley, American Museum of Natural History, New York, Dialectical Anthropology

“Well researched, convincingly argued, and elegantly written, The Gift of the Face constitutes a remarkable achievement and a highly significant contribution to Native American studies and visual cultural studies.” — Shari Huhndorf, University of California, Berkeley

“The major strength of this book resides in its close readings of a selection of photogravures of Native Americans, mostly portraits, made by Edward S. Curtis for the monumental publication The North American Indian. Zamir reveals and emphasizes the role of Native figures — not just as informants, but as subjects — in the creation and meaning of these images. The book will surely appeal to specialists in Native American studies, visual culture, American studies, anthropology, history, and related fields. It should also appeal to a broader, more general readership of ethically minded citizens, especially to the many readers interested in Native Americans.” — Mick Gidley, University of Leeds

“A fascinating re-evaluation of the ways (post-)modern scholarship has been reading Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian, a turning point for all of us who firmly believe in the assessment that images do not hold one single fixed meaning. And it is certainly a must for scholars and students in the fields of Visual Cultural Studies, Native American Studies, Anthropology, American History, Art History, and American Studies more generally.”—Karsten Fitz, Universität Passau