Preface to Our American Story:

A Brief Survey of the Motifs and Myths in Aboriginal and

Contemporary Native American Literature

JOURNAL #1: Confronting Stereotypes and Racist Depictions of Native Americans in Popular Culture

▪ Consider this clip from Disney's 1953 film Peter Pan. At your tables, discuss the following questions, but record your own responses in your journal.

▪ (1) Imagine this is all you knew of Native Americans. What would you infer about them?

▪ (2) EXTENSION: Can you think of other examples of racist and stereotyped films, television shows, cartoons, books, etc., concerning Native Americans?

▪ (3) What is the effect of such widespread bigotry, and why might it be so widespread?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7yE8TKUB_M

The Re-Education of Native Americans

“Indian Education,” Sherman Alexie (b. 1966)▪ Poet and Author of

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

▪ Raised on Spokane Indian Reservation (Washington)

“The School Days of an Indian Girl,” Zitkala-Sa (1876-1938)▪ Yankton Sioux native 

▪ Learned to read and write in English at a US government-subsidized boarding school

CLASS READING AND DISCUSSION: “The School Days of an Indian Girl”

▪ Who is Zitkala Sa's audience?

▪ What response is she trying to evoke from her audience?

▪ According to the school, what does becoming "civilized" mean? What values does it seek to instill?

▪ How do the school's values differ from Indian values?

▪ What does she gain and what does she lose in her "civilizing" experience?

SMALL GROUP RESPONSE: “The School Days of an Indian Girl”

Choose one (1) of the following and discuss it with the members of your table group. Turn in one paper for all members of the group. Be sure to list the names of all participants. Pick one person in the group to share your group’s response with the class.

1. Assume for a moment that the intentions of the U.S. and of the people running the boarding school were basically good. Write a 5 sentence paragraph from the POV of someone working at the Boarding School explaining why they had the rules they had, enforced them as they did, and what they wanted for these children.

2. Assume you could send a message back in time to the folks running the Boarding School and that you’d like to persuade them to take a different approach. Write a 5 sentence message you believe could persuade them.

SMALL GROUP RESPONSE: “Indian Education”

▪ Who is telling the story? How old is he/she during the telling? How do we know?

▪ Are any of the author’s feelings similar to feelings you have had at school? If so, how?

▪ In the section titled “Twelfth Grade,” why are the bright students “shaken, frightened, because they don’t know what comes next”? What can you infer about the students’ potential opportunities after high school?

▪ What is your immediate reaction to the section titled “Post Script”?

JOURNAL #2: The Re-Education of Native Americans

▪ Based on your reading of the texts and our class discussion, compare and contrast the educational experiences of each Native author. Be sure to cite at least four (4) examples from the text and include the use of at least three (3) appropriate transition words and phrases.

 

“Name Giveaway”Philip George

That teacher gave me a new name . . . again.She never even had feasts or a giveaway!

 Still I do not know what “George” means;

And now she calls me: “Phillip.” 

TWO SWANS ASCENDING FROM STILL WATERSMust be a name too hard to remember.

CLASS DISCUSSION: How do you interpret the poem below in light of the articles about the education of Native Americans?

Critical Terms and Cultural Context

Understanding and Analyzing Aboriginal and Contemporary Native American Literature

ABORIGINAL/INDIGENOUS

Adjective: (describing human ethnic groups, animals, and plants)

Inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times or from before the arrival of colonists.

MOTIF

Noun: a distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition.

Synonyms: theme, idea, concept, subject, topic

Using the word: "a recurring motif in her work"

ARCHETYPE

Noun:

A recurrent symbol or motif in literature, art, or mythology.

Using the word:

"mythological archetypes of good and evil"

ETYMOLOGY (LOANWORDS)

The study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.

LOANWORD: A word in one language that has been borrowed from another language.

Native American Loanwords in English

IGLOO from the Canadian Inuit “iglu,” house

KAYAK from the Alaskan Yupik “qayaq”

PECAN from the Illinois “pakani”

TEXAS from a Caddo word meaning “friends” (Tejas)

**Adapted from O Brave New Words! Native American Loanwords in Current English, Charles L. Cutler, University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.

Misunderstandings, Stereotypes, and Diversity

▪ “Each new scientific advance and archaeological find makes it increasingly clear that our image of Native America has been tainted by the antiquated, ‘cowboys and Indians,’ Hollywood version. Or that we romanticize Native Americans as ‘noble savages’ living in Eden-like spiritual and ecological harmony. Or, more recently, they have been depicted mostly as wealthy casino operators running gambling meccas on tribal lands. Needless to say, none of these views is accurate or complete, in part because there were- and are- so many different Native Americans. “

–Don’t Know Much About Mythology, Kenneth C. Davis

Native Americans and the Struggle for Preservation of Cultural Identity

▪ “Indian country in North America is still home to hundreds of religious traditions that have endured, despite a long history of persecution and suppression by government and missionaries… Native American sacred beliefs are as dignified, profound, viable, and richly faceted as other religions practiced throughout the world.” From The Dictionary of Native American Religions

Unity in Diversity: Common Characteristics of Native

American Culture and Spirituality

▪ Earth Mother—Common source of all fertility, a nurturing force.*

*Paraphrased from Native American scholar Richard Erdoes (1912-2008)

Unity in Diversity: Common Characteristics of Native

American Culture and Spirituality

▪ Great Spirit—Many tribes believed in a supreme being and prime creator with ultimate power. This deity was usually male, related to the sun, and often viewed as a divine energy that exists in all things.*

▪ *Paraphrased from Native American scholar Richard Erdoes (1912-2008)

Unity in Diversity: Common Characteristics of Native

American Culture and Spirituality

▪ Tricksters—Often malevolent animal spirits like Coyote. While sometimes cunning cultural heroes, they are usually viewed as “clever and foolish at the same time… who outsmart themselves.”*

*Native American scholar Richard Erdoes (1912-2008)

Unity in Diversity: Common Characteristics of Native

American Culture and Spirituality

Totem—the totem is somewhat unique to Native Americans. It is often a symbol of a tribe, clan, or family, but is imbued with spirit power.

“The totem was a coat of arms, an alter, shrine, flag, and a family tree all rolled into one.” Jonathan Forty

Unity in Diversity: Common Characteristics of Native

American Culture and Spirituality

▪ “While I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children . . . And I saw that it was holy.”

Origin Myths of Two Texas Tribes: the Caddo (East) and the Lipan-Apache

(West)

THE CADDO

A. Taysha means "friend" or "ally." The Spanish: tejas (Texas).

B. Settled in East Texas from their original homes in Louisiana, Alabama and Oklahoma.

C. 95% of the population was decimated in major epidemics between 1691 and 1816 (now primarily found in Oklahoma).*

Caddo village. Image courtesy of Texas Historical Commission

*Information provided by The Bullock Texas State History Museum. Thestoryoftexas.com. 2015.

LIPAN-APACHEA. Dominated most of West Texas.

B. Apache may have come from the Zuni word apachu, meaning enemy.

C. Among the first to ride horses.

D. Lived a nomadic life following buffalo herds.

E. Only officially recognized as a Texas Native tribe in 2009.**Information provided by The Bullock Texas State History Museum.

Thestoryoftexas.com. 2015.

The Story of the Parker Family

-Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains, predominantly Comanche, controlled northern Texas before European colonization.

-Quanah Parker, the son of Cynthia Ann Parker and Peta Nocona, was one of the last Comanche chiefs. His mother was an American of European descent kidnapped by the Comanche who eventually married a legendary chief.

Quanah Parker

Cynthia Ann Parker

Origin Myths: Example from the Caddo and Lipan-Apache Nations

▪ Orally transmitted from generation to generation.

▪ Traditional stories that recount the origins of humankind or a particular tribe and its cultural norms, customs, mores and morals.

▪ May be viewed as a mixture of science and religion (pseudo-science), explaining the origins of natural phenomena.

▪ Replete with motifs and archetypes that reflect a tribe’s unique understanding of an individual’s identity and role in the community.

Origin Myths of the Caddo and Lipan-Apache Nations

“Coyote Obtains Fire” (Apache)

“Coyote the Hungry” (Apache)

“How Buffalo Were Released on the Earth” (Apache)

“When the Storm God Rides” (Caddo)“The Maiden Who Loved a Star” (Caddo)

“Kachina Brings the Spring” (Caddo)

“Old Wooly Bird’s Sacrifice” (Caddo)

CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE:

The Poetry of Margo Tamez, Leslie Marmon Silko and Joy Haro

Margo Tamez

-Lipan-Apache and Spanish heritage

-Born in Austin, Texas, and raised in San Antonio

-Teacher and Activist

-POEM: “On the Wing”

Leslie Marmon Silko

-Laguna Pueblo, Mexican and Anglo-American heritage

-Widely considered to be one of the most important contemporary Native American writers

-POEMS: “Toe’osh: A Laguna Coyote Story” and “When Mountain Lion Lay Down with Deer”

Joy Haro

-Born in 1951 in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Native American and Canadian ancestry.

-In Mad Love and War (1990) won an American Book Award

-Poetry evokes Native oral and rhythmic traditions (often backed by the Arrow Dynamics Band)

-POEM: “My House is the Red Earth”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJKG9r8sKZE