Literature
Importance of orality
visual (word pictures, parables)
proximity
memory enhancing devices
story telling as performance
ordering isn't "set in stone"
isn't by rote memorization (not "word for word")
poly-vocality (audience may participate in the telling)
Majority culture interpretation
putting Native stories into print (fixed form)
romantic/exotic Indian
savage Indian
doomed Indian
Native literature
print is relatively new
1968 - estimate that there were only 9 Native American novels!
today over 300
What is Native American literature?
by Indians?
about Indians?
both?
traditional vs. contemporary
Forms of storytelling - ritual dramas, songs, narratives, speeches, life histories
Guidelines
Velie (1991)
functional - an educational tool to teach beliefs and values
Treuer (2006) - themes
dislocation
search for self
importance of land
use of traditional materials
non-linear structure
Ruoff (1991) - themes
humans must live in harmony with the physical and spiritual universe
deep reverence for the land
emphasis on direction (4, medicine wheel)
circularity (circle of life)
heroes - providing resources to help the tribe
"helping spirits"
Trout (1999) - themes
images and identities
spirit world
crisis in the homeland
remembered earth
all my relations
growing up
affairs of the heart
language and learning in two worlds
we survive
memory alive