Native American Literature

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Native American Literature

• American Literature

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(No Transcript)
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Historical Cultural Context

• Our American identity as we know it is a product
  of our past. Literature reveals how we arrived at
  our society and culture today.
• We study Native American literature out of a
  respect for the indigenous cultures who were here
  before the European explorers as well as a
  respect for their cultural and literary influence
  throughout the years.

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• Indigenous Americans inhabited this continent
  before anyone else. They endured many invasions
  from the Spaniards for the following primary
  reasons
• 1. land
• 2. gold
• 3. crops
• (all of which were plentiful)

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• Once explorers and settlers decided to stay and
  start building the natives could do nothing
  although they usually tried to fight back.
• Natives had a completely different set of values
  and traditions
• - some wouldnt fight back until they realized
  they would lose their land completely
• - they lived off the land and held it in high
  regard earth was the mother
• - they never used more than they needed and
  they never wasted anything

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• The settlers flagrant ways and intruding methods
  of desecrating the land came as a huge blow to
  the Native Americans.
• The Europeans also brought disease that natives
  were never exposed to before, which brought
  actual physical desecration to their people.
• Over time (hundreds of years) land was
  progressively taken away from them and they were
  not only robbed of their sacred land and the
  traditions it embodied for them, but they were
  forced into assimilating into the emerging
  European-American culture.

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• Indian removal was legalized with the Removal Act
  of 1830, which stipulated
• 1. the tribe consent to move
• 2. new land was to replace the old

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• This manifest destiny resulted in what would
  later be known as the Trail of Tears, or the mass
  forced exodus of thousands of Native Americans
  from their sacred land to government
  reservations.
• From there, efforts to civilize them so that
  they could be mainstreamed into society
  continued.

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• Indian children were sent to boarding schools far
  away from the reservations so that the authority
  of their parents/elders would be undermined.
  Language, and consequently, cultural identity was
  legally confiscated. Children were harshly
  punished for using their own language and were
  separated tribally to immerse them in English
  only.
• Although great strides have been made in recent
  years for Indian Sovereignty, Native Americans
  continue to struggle because of the events of the
  past.

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Storytelling Oral Tradition

• Long before European explorers came to North
  America, Native Americans had a rich literary
  tradition of their own. Their stories, histories,
  and legends were shared and preserved through
  oral tradition. The storyteller is one whose
  spirit is indispensable to the people.

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• The Native Americans spoke hundreds of languages
  and lived in incredibly diverse societies with
  varied mythological beliefs. Despite their
  differences, their cultures and literary
  traditions had the following common elements

• ? lack of a written language
• ? they believed in the power of words and they
  relied on memory, rather than writing to preserve
  their texts
• in this regard, these stories are not defined by
  the boundaries of written language there are no
  ending pages and they are not contained within a
  limited, concrete, physical source.

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• ? these stories belong to the collective
  people/the tribe
• ? the oral tradition was a performance and is
  offered to the audience as dramatic events in
  time
• yet, the audience is not passive and has a role
  in bringing out the story
• ? the storyteller is very important to culture
  and is one of the most
• honored and respected members of the
  tribe/society

• ? the relationship between the storyteller and
  the audience is established through voice
  emphasis, gestures, use of space, eye contact,
  and the audience can be representative of the
  characters in the story
• ? there is no known original author
• ? these stories are open to personal
  interpretation

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• These oral stories include the following types
  of texts
• ? cultural information (beliefs about social
  order and appropriate behavior)
• historical accounts including migrations how
  people got to where they are
• lessons describe how and why things are the way
  they are
• creation stories and the origins of societies
  (beliefs about the nature of the physical world)

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• ? legends which include exploits of their heroes
• ? traditions, religious beliefs, ceremonies,
  dreamsongs, shamanic chants, naming chants and
  blessings (beliefs about human nature and the
  problem of good and evil)
• ? trickster tales featuring a trickster figure
  who was any combination of the following
  descriptions rule-breaker, malicious, cunning,
  foolish, chaos-causing, shape and gender shifting
  (a famous example is Kokopeli who was a Hopi
  flute player symbolic of happiness, joy, and
  fertility)
• ? instructions from spirit mentors and
  explanations on how to conduct ceremonies

• ? descriptions of natural processes such as water
  cycles, inter-species relationships, life cycles
  of plants, earth movements, and soil types
• ? oral maps for travel which describe historic
  and on-going migrations of tribe for subsistence
  and holy journeys
• ? magical tales of transformation which
  articulate the mystery and complexity of being
  human
• ? adventures in love, romance, and marriage

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• NOTE While oral stories are meant to be
  passed down through generations verbally, it is
  important to remember that written transcripts
  are not exactly representative of the oral
  performance. But a translation/ transcription of
  the stories is the closest we can come to sharing
  the Native American culture and tradition.

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• These oral stories were chanted, spoken, sung
  and repeated over and over until embedded into
  the memories of the next generations. The Native
  American oral tradition was the only way to pass
  on tribal history, heritage, and cultural
  practices. In order to continue hundreds of years
  of a tribes history the young must listen and
  remember the stories the elders tell and then
  pass them on.

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Some Dominant Themes Motifs

• relationships between humans and animals
• respect and reverence for mother earth and nature
• land as the strength of the people
• village/community/tribe as sovereign
• cyclical patterns renewal and continuance
• importance of tribal traditions and history

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Native American Wisdom

• The earth was created by the assistance of the
  sun, and it should be left as wasThe earth and
  myself are of one mind. --Chief Joseph, Nez
  Perce
• All things are connectedWhatever befalls the
  earth befalls the sons of the earthThis we know.
  Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a
  strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does
  to himself. --Chief Seattle

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• The Earth our Mother is holy and should be
  treated as suchall forms of life are our
  brothers and sisters and have to be
  respectedLife is a holy, sacred experiencewe
  must live our lives as a religion, that is, with
  a constant concern for spiritual relationships
  and valueswe must live lives that bring forth
  both physical and spiritual beauty. All life has
  the potentiality of bringing forth Beauty and
  Harmony, but humans in particular have also
  the ability to bring forth ugliness and
  disharmony. --Forbes

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• You have noticed that everything an Indian
  does is in a circle, and that is because the
  Power of the World always works in circles, and
  everything tries to be round. In the old days
  when we were a strong and happy people, all our
  power came to us from the sacred hoop of the
  nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the
  people flourished. The flowering tree was the
  living center of the hoop, and the circle of the
  four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace
  and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave
  rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind
  gave strength and endurance. This knowledge came
  to us from the outer world with our religion.
  Everything the Power of the World does is done in
  a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that
  the earth is round like a ball, and so are all
  the stars. The wind, in its greatest power,
  whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for
  theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun
  comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The
  moon does the same, and both are round. Even
  the seasons form a great circle in their
  changing, and always come back again to where
  they were. The life of a man is a circle from
  childhood to childhood, and so it is in
  everything where power moves. Our tepees were
  round like the nests of birds, and these were
  always set in a circle, the Nations hoop, a nest
  of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for
  us to hatch our children. Black Elk, Oglala
  Sioux Holy Man, 1863-1950

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• Plants are thought to be alive, their juice is
  their blood, and they grow. The same is true of
  trees. All things die, therefore all things have
  life. Because all things have life, gifts have to
  be given to all things. --William Ralganal
  Benson Pomo
• This rock did not come here by itself. This tree
  did not come here by itself. There is one who
  made all this, Who shows us everything. --Yuki

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• The American Indian is of the soil, whether it
  be the region of the forests, plains, pueblos, or
  mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the land
  that fashioned the continent also fashioned the
  man for his surroundings. He once grew as
  naturally as the wild sunflowers he belongs just
  as the buffalo belongs. --Luther Standing Bear,
  Oglala Sioux Chief

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For Further Reading Study

• The Way to Rainy Mountain and House Made of Dawn,
  by N. Scott Momaday
• The Surrounded, by DArcy McNickle
• Reservation Blues and The Lone Ranger and Tonto
  Fistfight in Heaven, by Sherman Alexie
• Storyteller and Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko
• Neither Wolf Nor Dog, by Kent Nerburn
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, HBO film
• Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya