Ties That Bind is an inspiring example of self-conscious, responsible, well-researched work in the face of gaps and absences in the historical record. Miles's use of an Afro-Cherokee family to analyze the tenuous racial boundaries between white, black, and Native Americans in the nineteenth century shows how one may reasonably extrapolate knowledge from case studies and comparative research practices. She recognizes and carefully navigates what George B. Handley calls the “poetics of oblivion,” and uses comparative techniques to reasonably fill in the gaps where there are silences in the story of Shoe Boots. Most importantly, she acknowledges when she is hypothesizing and explains to the reader that conjectural work is being done. Miles shows that guesswork is not an academic crime. In fact, she shows that is an essential tool to any serious scholar, but it must be used responsibly, self-consciously, and transparently.

Miles’s work is bigger than just nineteenth century race relations—it is about identity, community, belonging, and memory. These bigger issues are interwoven with the struggles of Shoe Boots’s family to gain recognition in the Cherokee community and negotiate the liminal space between the rigid racial categories of white, Indian, and black. After reading her re-creation of their family story, I immediately drew comparisons to those who feel marginalized by societal categories of belonging, specifically categories of gender and nationality. ( )

In progress