Native American Literature Ms. Hamilton – American Lit

Our American identity as we know it is a product of our past. Our class will focus on literature which 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. Historical & Cultural Context

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)

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 wouldn’t 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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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)

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

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.

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 tribe’s history the young must listen and remember the stories the elders tell and then pass them on.

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

Terms to Know Oral tradition Trickster tale Creation myth Tribal song Myth Chronological order Theme Narrative