Maria Holmgren Troy, Elizabeth Kella, and Helena Wahlström
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780719089596
- eISBN:
- 9781781707289
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719089596.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
While literary representations of indigenous peoples by non-Native writers now appear infrequently outside of popular genres, contemporary Native representations of Native orphan children have become ...
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While literary representations of indigenous peoples by non-Native writers now appear infrequently outside of popular genres, contemporary Native representations of Native orphan children have become common, which this study views as a literary trend growing out of widespread experiences of child removal and foster care, as well as of alternative child-rearing and kinship practices. In this chapter, key questions are posed to four works in which Native American orphan figures appear: Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees (1988) and Pigs in Heaven (1993), Linda Hogan’s Solar Storms (1995), and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Gardens in the Dunes (1999). What “signifying capabilities” do Native American orphans have? What specific challenges to American and/or Native identity do authors respond to through their use of orphan figures? In what types of narrative or ideological processes are Native American orphans involved? The analysis suggests that authors use the figure of the orphan to interrogate the possibilities and limitations of American and Native nationhood, particularly in regard to their ability to accommodate, assimilate, or otherwise mediate difference. In the process, writers of fiction establish theoretical alliances or antipathies with multiculturalism as a model for American or Native social and political life.Less
While literary representations of indigenous peoples by non-Native writers now appear infrequently outside of popular genres, contemporary Native representations of Native orphan children have become common, which this study views as a literary trend growing out of widespread experiences of child removal and foster care, as well as of alternative child-rearing and kinship practices. In this chapter, key questions are posed to four works in which Native American orphan figures appear: Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees (1988) and Pigs in Heaven (1993), Linda Hogan’s Solar Storms (1995), and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Gardens in the Dunes (1999). What “signifying capabilities” do Native American orphans have? What specific challenges to American and/or Native identity do authors respond to through their use of orphan figures? In what types of narrative or ideological processes are Native American orphans involved? The analysis suggests that authors use the figure of the orphan to interrogate the possibilities and limitations of American and Native nationhood, particularly in regard to their ability to accommodate, assimilate, or otherwise mediate difference. In the process, writers of fiction establish theoretical alliances or antipathies with multiculturalism as a model for American or Native social and political life.
Mark Rifkin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816677825
- eISBN:
- 9781452948041
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816677825.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
In 1970 the Nixon administration inaugurated a new era in federal Indian policy. No more would the U.S. government seek to deny and displace Native peoples or dismantle Native governments; from now ...
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In 1970 the Nixon administration inaugurated a new era in federal Indian policy. No more would the U.S. government seek to deny and displace Native peoples or dismantle Native governments; from now on federal policy would promote “the Indian’s sense of autonomy without threatening his sense of community.” This book offers a telling perspective on what such a policy of self-determination has meant and looks at how contemporary queer Native writers use representations of sensation to challenge official U.S. accounts of Native identity. The book focuses on four Native writers—Qwo-Li Driskill (Cherokee), Deborah Miranda (Esselen), Greg Sarris (Graton Rachería), and Chrystos (Menominee)—approaching their fiction and poetry as forms of political theory. The book shows how the work of these queer or two-spirit Native writers affirms the significance of the erotic as an exercise of individual and community sovereignty. In this way, we come to see how their work contests the homophobic, sexist, and exclusivist policies and attitudes of tribal communities as well as those of the nation-state.Less
In 1970 the Nixon administration inaugurated a new era in federal Indian policy. No more would the U.S. government seek to deny and displace Native peoples or dismantle Native governments; from now on federal policy would promote “the Indian’s sense of autonomy without threatening his sense of community.” This book offers a telling perspective on what such a policy of self-determination has meant and looks at how contemporary queer Native writers use representations of sensation to challenge official U.S. accounts of Native identity. The book focuses on four Native writers—Qwo-Li Driskill (Cherokee), Deborah Miranda (Esselen), Greg Sarris (Graton Rachería), and Chrystos (Menominee)—approaching their fiction and poetry as forms of political theory. The book shows how the work of these queer or two-spirit Native writers affirms the significance of the erotic as an exercise of individual and community sovereignty. In this way, we come to see how their work contests the homophobic, sexist, and exclusivist policies and attitudes of tribal communities as well as those of the nation-state.
Eric Gary Anderson
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781496818096
- eISBN:
- 9781496818133
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496818096.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
In the world of Light in August, a cotton warehouse tank can look like the torso of a beheaded mastodon and an elderly couple "might have been two muskoxen strayed from the north pole, or two ...
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In the world of Light in August, a cotton warehouse tank can look like the torso of a beheaded mastodon and an elderly couple "might have been two muskoxen strayed from the north pole, or two homeless and belated beasts from beyond the glacial period." Here and elsewhere in the novel, Faulkner's reach transforms characters and environs. While none of the major characters is native to Jefferson, let alone Indigenous, some are astonishingly non-native and most if not all become more non-native and more homeless as the novel unfolds. With these and other unsettlements in mind, the chapter places Light in August alongside Mongrels, a native southern werewolf novel by Blackfeet writer Stephen Graham Jones. Tracking the monsters and the mongrel transformations in both novels, the chapter presents and argument for the transformative methodological value of native southern studies.Less
In the world of Light in August, a cotton warehouse tank can look like the torso of a beheaded mastodon and an elderly couple "might have been two muskoxen strayed from the north pole, or two homeless and belated beasts from beyond the glacial period." Here and elsewhere in the novel, Faulkner's reach transforms characters and environs. While none of the major characters is native to Jefferson, let alone Indigenous, some are astonishingly non-native and most if not all become more non-native and more homeless as the novel unfolds. With these and other unsettlements in mind, the chapter places Light in August alongside Mongrels, a native southern werewolf novel by Blackfeet writer Stephen Graham Jones. Tracking the monsters and the mongrel transformations in both novels, the chapter presents and argument for the transformative methodological value of native southern studies.
Alice Te Punga Somerville
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816677566
- eISBN:
- 9781452948003
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816677566.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
Native identity is usually associated with a particular place. But what if that place is the ocean? This book explores this question as it considers how Māori and other Pacific peoples frame their ...
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Native identity is usually associated with a particular place. But what if that place is the ocean? This book explores this question as it considers how Māori and other Pacific peoples frame their connection to the ocean, to New Zealand, and to each other through various creative works. This book shows how and when Māori and other Pacific peoples articulate their ancestral history as migratory seafarers, drawing their identity not only from land but also from water. Although Māori are ethnically Polynesian, and Aotearoa New Zealand is clearly a part of the Pacific region, in New Zealand the terms “Māori” and “Pacific” are colloquially applied to two distinct communities: Māori are Indigenous, and “Pacific” refers to migrant communities from elsewhere in the region. Asking how this distinction might blur historical and contemporary connections, this book interrogates the relationship between indigeneity, migration, and diaspora, focusing on texts: poetry, fiction, theater, film, and music, viewed alongside historical instances of performance, journalism, and scholarship.Less
Native identity is usually associated with a particular place. But what if that place is the ocean? This book explores this question as it considers how Māori and other Pacific peoples frame their connection to the ocean, to New Zealand, and to each other through various creative works. This book shows how and when Māori and other Pacific peoples articulate their ancestral history as migratory seafarers, drawing their identity not only from land but also from water. Although Māori are ethnically Polynesian, and Aotearoa New Zealand is clearly a part of the Pacific region, in New Zealand the terms “Māori” and “Pacific” are colloquially applied to two distinct communities: Māori are Indigenous, and “Pacific” refers to migrant communities from elsewhere in the region. Asking how this distinction might blur historical and contemporary connections, this book interrogates the relationship between indigeneity, migration, and diaspora, focusing on texts: poetry, fiction, theater, film, and music, viewed alongside historical instances of performance, journalism, and scholarship.
Stephanie Elizondo Griest
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469631592
- eISBN:
- 9781469631615
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469631592.003.0018
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
What does it mean to be Mohawk today—especially given that so many traditions (hunting, fishing, fur trapping, basketry) have been compromised by outside influences (polluting industries, the drug ...
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What does it mean to be Mohawk today—especially given that so many traditions (hunting, fishing, fur trapping, basketry) have been compromised by outside influences (polluting industries, the drug trade, human trafficking, the Internet)? Of Akwesasne’s 12,000 residents, only a thousand still speak their native language fluently. Most of them are elderly. This chapter investigates Mohawk efforts to revitalize their native language, including an immersive K-8 school called the Akwesasne Freedom School. The author also reflects upon the loss of her own mother tongue back in the South Texas public education system, where Tejano children were punished for their Mexican accents.Less
What does it mean to be Mohawk today—especially given that so many traditions (hunting, fishing, fur trapping, basketry) have been compromised by outside influences (polluting industries, the drug trade, human trafficking, the Internet)? Of Akwesasne’s 12,000 residents, only a thousand still speak their native language fluently. Most of them are elderly. This chapter investigates Mohawk efforts to revitalize their native language, including an immersive K-8 school called the Akwesasne Freedom School. The author also reflects upon the loss of her own mother tongue back in the South Texas public education system, where Tejano children were punished for their Mexican accents.
