1. Native American Literature

3. Historical & Cultural Context
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.

4. Indigenous Americans inhabited this continent before anyone else
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)

5. 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.

6. 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
Thus, 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.

7. These stories belong to the collective people/the tribe
The storyteller is very important to culture and is one of the most honored and respected members of the tribe/society
There is no known original author

8. 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)

9. 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.

10. Some Dominant Themes & Motifs:
Relationships between humans and animals
Respect and reverence for mother earth and nature
Connection to the spiritual world and the presence of an invisible power that is the source of life and good for humans
Animal and human roles are interchangeable
Cyclical patterns: renewal and continuance

11. “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