Education at the Edge of Empire

"Scholars interested in Indian boarding schools, particularly as they compare to one another, will learn from this book, as will those who are interested in the intersecting ecologies of colonization and schooling. Gram's book, moreover, illustrates how education, particularly that of children, is a phenomenon that communities hold in a paramount position that need not be contained within the school itself."

"Gram provides a nuanced view of the power relationship between the Santa Fe and Albuquerque US government boarding schools and the New Mexico Indians these schools served from the 1880s into the 1930s."

"[N]ot your typical book about Indian schools. . . . Gram demonstrates a deeper complexity of the boarding school experience and its relationship to several dynamically active communities. . . . This book is well researched through multiple collections and draws on the existing scholarship in ways that show a keen intelligence and great synthesis while incorporating rich primary source materials, many of them gathered from the Santa Fe Indian School. It is amazingly approachable, phenomenally thorough, and easily teachable."

"[A]ccessible and interesting. . . . Education at the Edge of Empire is a wonderful addition to the literature of off-reservation boarding schools."

"This book offers a fascinating and unexpected view of the Indian boarding experience. It is a welcome addition to Native American historiography and should be of interest to anyone who values a deeper understanding of the way in which Pueblo people in New Mexico were able to make an institution dedicated to destroying their way of life work instead for them."

"The author does well to illustrate the unique and compelling relationship between Pueblo communities of the Southwest and the two boarding schools that served so many of their children, the Albuquerque Indian School (AIS) and the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS). . . . Gram’s study of AIS and SFIS provides not only a useful addition to the literature on American Indian boarding schools, but a valuable illustration of the limitations of imperial efforts toward Native people in a borderlands setting."

"Adds new layers of complexity. . . . Gram aptly demonstrates how the nexus of national and local politics provided Pueblo people with opportunities to exact change from school officials. Gram’s development of a political economy of Indian education stands among the most important contributions of this book."

"The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico were more than passive victims in the face of federal efforts to dispossess their children of their cultural identities. With issues of power, culture, and agency at its very center, Education at the Edge of Empire constitutes an important contribution to the literature on Indian boarding schools."

"Gram offers a highly engaging account of Pueblo Indian students and their experiences at the Albuquerque and Santa Fe Indian schools. His book reveals an intense power dynamic between parents, school officials, the Catholic church, and the students themselves. No other single scholarly work interrogates the ways Pueblo students and their tribal communities experienced these institutions."