Indigenous peoples -- Ontario -- Social conditions, Indigenous peoples -- Ontario -- History, Six Nations Indian Reserve No. 40 (Ont.) -- Social conditions, Six Nations Indian Reserve No. 40 (Ont.) -- History, Brian Maracle -- 1947, Mohawk -- Ontario -- Social conditions, Mohawk -- Ontario -- History, Mohawk -- Ontario -- Biography, Mohawk -- Social conditions, Mohawk -- History, Mohawk -- Biography, Mohawk, Iroquois -- Ontario -- Social conditions, Iroquois -- Ontario -- History, Iroquois -- Social conditions, Iroquois -- History, Iroquois, Indigenous peoples -- Ontario -- Biography, Indigenous peoples -- Biography, First Nations reserves -- Ontario, Ontario 

"Forty years after moving away to the city, Mohawk writer Brian Maracle has returned to his boyhood home. In autumn 1993, he packed up his things, said goodbye to his city friends and colleagues, and moved back to the Six Nations Grand River Territory.

In this vivid chronicle of his first year back on the rez, Maracle writes about the challenges of adapting to a community where your water comes from a well, your heat from a woodstove, and your food from a garden; where family, friends, and casual acquaintances show up on your doorstep unannounced. We accompany him on his search for his cultural and spiritual roots — a search that introduces us to snowsnakes and mid-winter ceremonies, and reminds us of the meaning that can be found in everyday traditions.

But Back on the Rez is much more than a personal journey into Mohawk history and culture. Six Nations is a deeply divided community, and Maracle brings us inside, where a determined group of traditionalists is struggling to revitalize the longhouse religion and the Iroquois Confederacy. He introduces us to power brokers and cigarette hustlers and attacks corruption and incompetence in the government-imposed band council. And he offers provocative perspectives on gambling, tax exemptions, media bias, the Mohawk language, and the often overwhelming struggle to reclaim traditional values.

Part memoir, part travelogue, part polemic, Back on the Rez is a revealing look at what it means to be an Indian in the 1990s, and a powerful account of the journey home."--Book jacket. 

x, 306 pages ; 24 cm 

Contents:
Tsi tyotahsawe : At the beginning
Tsi teyotenerahtatenyons : When the leaves are changing
Tsi kanye' onh : When the snow has fallen
Tsi ratiyenthos ne kanen : When the seeds are planted
Tsi yawenta'tarihen : When the days are hot.