The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

More documents

Recommendations

Info

the way things are,” addressed to her grandmother. Gramma has complained that her grandchildren don’t speak “indian” and that no one is near to buy her tobacco. The poet replies, but gramma you told your daughters marry white men told them they would have nicer houses fancy cars pretty clothes could live in the city gramma your daughters did they couldn’t speak indian anymore how could we grandchildren learn there are no rabbits to skin in the city we have no gramma there to teach us the ways 2 The poem articulates the frustration of normlessness, for while the speaker is aware of the norms, they are meaningless in her personal context. For what use is it to know, vaguely, that there are songs one might sing or dances one might dance, that there is a language to speak and customs to follow, when one knows little more about them than a common tourist. Jeff Saunders observes: I came far today from where winds are white … We came circus trying to crawl down streets. I left …
I felt like a tourist. 3 Simon J. Ortiz writes in “Toward Spider Springs”: Our baby, his mother, and I were trying to find the right road … We were trying to find a place to start all over but couldn’t. 4 The impact of normlessness and estrangement from oneself and people is referred to many times by Ortiz in Going for the Rain as well as by other poets. Ortiz is better able than many to resolve the conflict by retreating into Indianness, but his retreat inevitably lacks the conviction possessed by Pueblo Indians of earlier generations who did not face the question in its recent, profoundly disorganizing form. Other poets who are not fully at home in either world have less ease than Ortiz in pretending to discover balance through identifying as purely Indian in their work. (Nor is Ortiz faced with an easy task; writing poetry and stories and being actively involved in radical politics are not traditional Acoma pursuits.) Other poets express their anguish, anger, and dislocation more polemically than he, and with less poetic finesse. Politically conscious, romanticizing stances characterize much of the work of contemporary American Indian writers. In that work, alienation is everywhere in evidence, for political activism is one way younger Indian writers (and older Indians just beginning to get politically involved) can get a hearing, and their own sense of alienation is often the motivating force that propels them into writing to begin with. But it also tends to produce a poetry that slides into easy oppositions: the red man as noble and persecuted, an innocent victim of a fate he was and
Page 2:
EARLY BIRD BOOKS FRESH EBOOK DEALS,
Page 5 and 6:
For Native people everywhere: may o
Page 7 and 8:
Angry Women Are Building: Issues an
Page 9 and 10:
throughout the United States, incre
Page 11 and 12:
As she read, my heart was lifted in
Page 13 and 14:
of women in native life across the
Page 15 and 16:
Something sacred indeed is going on
Page 17 and 18:
essays in this volume. 1. Indians a
Page 19 and 20:
unquestioned power of such magnitud
Page 21 and 22:
wilderness. The view of Indians as
Page 23 and 24:
context. However, I know from exper
Page 25 and 26:
The Ways of Our Grandmothers
Page 27 and 28:
North America since white contact,
Page 29 and 30:
she is thought itself, from which a
Page 31 and 32:
engendering), Thought Woman is not
Page 33 and 34:
Woman. The Lakota are connected to
Page 35 and 36:
There is an old tradition among num
Page 37 and 38:
matrifocally resorted to their accu
Page 39 and 40:
esult of defeat as well as of victo
Page 41 and 42:
communication with animals, plants,
Page 43 and 44:
among Indians) that was empowered b
Page 45 and 46:
ody of a bird and the head of a wom
Page 47 and 48:
makes them the preponderant powers
Page 49 and 50:
them, he says, “Enough … mother
Page 51 and 52:
When Women Throw Down Bundles: Stro
Page 53 and 54:
function in present-day American In
Page 55 and 56:
Canadian border defeated. Pressed f
Page 57 and 58:
during the council that decided on
Page 59 and 60:
Cherokee gynocracy, of a region tha
Page 61 and 62:
possession of Cherokee lands. The C
Page 63 and 64:
each other and experienced it at ea
Page 65 and 66:
nonauthoritarian social system wher
Page 67 and 68:
degynocraticization is subject to i
Page 69 and 70:
adversarial and dualistic perceptio
Page 71 and 72:
II Since the coming of the Anglo-Eu
Page 73 and 74:
were about power, not about sin or
Page 75 and 76:
am trying to get non-Indian approva
Page 77 and 78:
and white, explains the situation d
Page 79 and 80:
The acts of aggression committed ag
Page 81 and 82:
literature, in fact, is known only
Page 83 and 84:
Geronimo’s autobiography, Frederi
Page 85 and 86:
thus be exiled from the perfect pla
Page 87 and 88:
the one, significance is a necessar
Page 89 and 90:
emphasize restoration of wholeness,
Page 91 and 92:
should be interrelated, given the b
Page 93 and 94:
epetition integrates or fuses, allo
Page 95 and 96:
Seated at home behold me, Lo, here,
Page 97 and 98:
desire will ensure its gratificatio
Page 99 and 100:
The westerner’s bias against nono
Page 101 and 102:
commonplace are one. To you symbols
Page 103 and 104:
presume that thoughts are idiosyncr
Page 105 and 106:
particular talent that human beings
Page 107 and 108:
tales and songs, which may be humor
Page 109 and 110:
from the point of view of its peopl
Page 111 and 112:
its way takes up themes that pervad
Page 113 and 114:
on human life, largely because conf
Page 115 and 116:
incorporating event within event, p
Page 117 and 118:
American novelists’ use of ritual
Page 119 and 120:
complementarity. The women’s trad
Page 121 and 122:
United States (and is still occurri
Page 123 and 124:
that is, accepted the whites’ pea
Page 125 and 126:
esult in either genocide or deicide
Page 127 and 128:
ceremonials known as chantways. The
Page 129 and 130:
then one must accept “devil” wo
Page 131 and 132: coyote, an ant, but who in any case
Page 133 and 134: In his early thirties, Loney, who w
Page 135 and 136: Francisco thus shows that the signi
Page 137 and 138: connect a person with the world wor
Page 139 and 140: Saint Plumero Bigfoot. A total inno
Page 141 and 142: counseled by the Spirit of Thought,
Page 143 and 144: narrative counterparts, stories, an
Page 145 and 146: Something Sacred Going on Out There
Page 147 and 148: muteness. 2 So while μ οσ is tra
Page 149 and 150: caused myth to be regarded as “a
Page 151 and 152: Classical myths could be rescued by
Page 153 and 154: sought, and his vision was bestowed
Page 155 and 156: associated with Thunder and the Wes
Page 157 and 158: And in this mystic body, or mythic
Page 159 and 160: This sequence reveals to Black Elk
Page 161 and 162: movements and action and in charact
Page 163 and 164: eyond the small hoop of the Lakota
Page 165 and 166: incorporates both. Lastly, the myth
Page 167 and 168: We are the land, and the land is mo
Page 169 and 170: waters of life that flow from a wom
Page 171 and 172: about Tayo’s life is ordinary whi
Page 173 and 174: After Tayo completes the first step
Page 175 and 176: this disordered thinking into motio
Page 177 and 178: A Stranger in My Own Life: Alienati
Page 179 and 180: I wolde think their life moste happ
Page 181: signaled. Then, too, one can meet t
Page 185 and 186: ecause others hated her whites hate
Page 187 and 188: choose to perceive themselves as th
Page 189 and 190: acceptably Indian (with all the pai
Page 191 and 192: and the yellow wind make me shiver
Page 193 and 194: The violence in which Abel finds hi
Page 195 and 196: cattle and fields because Rocky see
Page 197 and 198: seeing for some time, and by this m
Page 199 and 200: stasis of Loney as he approaches th
Page 201 and 202: Momaday’s portrayal of Abel as lo
Page 203 and 204: The Ceremonial Motion of Indian Tim
Page 205 and 206: death with life. Francisco understa
Page 207 and 208: hoop dance I was watching in my ima
Page 209 and 210: to a nearly chronological narrative
Page 211 and 212: thought I heard them talking, comin
Page 213 and 214: Answering the Deer: Genocide and Co
Page 215 and 216: witness is one solution, but it is
Page 217 and 218: ago and they fought over Acoma land
Page 219 and 220: ut i can see an eagle almost extinc
Page 221 and 222: A contemporary American Indian is a
Page 223 and 224: joined to blood and flesh. There’
Page 225 and 226: This Wilderness in My Blood: Spirit
Page 227 and 228: crazy. But I also know, in another
Page 229 and 230: Hogan speaks of a phase she went th
Page 231 and 232: world of creatures, human and nonhu
Page 233 and 234:
toward one another. Their pulses be
Page 235 and 236:
eturned to the Alaskan Koyukon vill
Page 237 and 238:
Your small shape remained In mornin
Page 239 and 240:
present in the work of “marginal
Page 241 and 242:
here? Shall I go mumbling into my k
Page 243 and 244:
from Paguate to a small land-grant
Page 245 and 246:
dead society, but the reworking of
Page 247 and 248:
and cannot sing it into line. 3) as
Page 249 and 250:
Pushing Up the Sky
Page 251 and 252:
States; an analysis of lesbianism i
Page 253 and 254:
extinction which for several hundre
Page 255 and 256:
death. A headline in the Navajo Tim
Page 257 and 258:
human life and human dignity was ha
Page 259 and 260:
in South America—Brazil, Argentin
Page 261 and 262:
example, the Kaska of Canada would
Page 263 and 264:
were contemptuous of Gay traditions
Page 265 and 266:
considerable stature on Native Amer
Page 267 and 268:
lands. One of the women, identified
Page 269 and 270:
childbearer, and nurturer, they no
Page 271 and 272:
human agency. For Mrs. McCabe, havi
Page 273 and 274:
are inextricably interwoven with fe
Page 275 and 276:
certain women as individuals result
Page 277 and 278:
healing is a matter of restoring th
Page 279 and 280:
traditionalism. The Native American
Page 281 and 282:
Native America. America does not se
Page 283 and 284:
The Matrons held so much policy-mak
Page 285 and 286:
convinced that those wars were and
Page 287 and 288:
Dye declared that Sacagawea, whose
Page 289 and 290:
worlds occurred, come to mark much
Page 291 and 292:
ody responsible for implementing po
Page 293 and 294:
ought here as slaves. Ethnographer
Page 295 and 296:
Kochinnenako in Academe: Three Appr
Page 297 and 298:
approach reveals not only the explo
Page 299 and 300:
are not possible in English. Langua
Page 301 and 302:
and are so painted at death so that
Page 303 and 304:
woven from the silks of corn, a bel
Page 305 and 306:
mood. On approaching the city, he f
Page 307 and 308:
have white markings upon them. From
Page 309 and 310:
A Keres Interpretation When a tradi
Page 311 and 312:
exchange of dominance, and thus eac
Page 313 and 314:
to accept a life bereft of warmth a
Page 315 and 316:
males as one of them in order to bu
Page 317 and 318:
constitutes his declaration of his
Page 319 and 320:
e able to see how the interpolation
Page 321 and 322:
features of the forest. When a woma
Page 323 and 324:
materials. Western technological-in
Page 325 and 326:
tale. I am acutely aware that much
Page 327 and 328:
the manly hearted woman divorces he
Page 329 and 330:
concept of women, the concept of bo
Page 331 and 332:
household as an economic unit but h
Page 333 and 334:
Actually, the legitimacy of motherh
Page 335 and 336:
questioner and the newcomer. Again,
Page 337 and 338:
as men on the eve of combat, or pre
Page 339 and 340:
accepted as part of the woman’s c
Page 341 and 342:
together women tilled their fields,
Page 343 and 344:
The Lakota have a word for some of
Page 345 and 346:
ecome anathema; her presence has be
Page 347 and 348:
Stealing the Thunder: Future Vision
Page 349 and 350:
power, all the life ways and values
Page 351 and 352:
grandmother/mother/Peacemaker/farme
Page 353 and 354:
American Indian studies is not pure
Page 355 and 356:
materials selected and erected to h
Page 357 and 358:
Something of the vastness of the ch
Page 359 and 360:
paw, the healer rushes out of the h
Page 361 and 362:
of Adrian Recinos (Norman: Universi
Page 363 and 364:
Niantic, Scaticook, Piscataway, and
Page 365 and 366:
12. Margot Astrov, American Indian
Page 367 and 368:
8. N. Scott Momaday, House Made of
Page 369 and 370:
of the ritual significance of the d
Page 371 and 372:
11. Momaday, House, p. 64. 12. Lesl
Page 373 and 374:
Press, 1985), p. 56. 12. Paula Gunn
Page 375 and 376:
and forced them to give up their un
Page 377 and 378:
foremothers created a feminist hero
Page 379 and 380:
I think he was doing the translatio
Page 381 and 382:
perhaps permanently altered the nar
Page 383 and 384:
Selected Bibliography Autobiographi
Page 385 and 386:
Brandon, William. The Last American
Page 387 and 388:
University of Nebraska Press, 1983.
Page 389 and 390:
Rinehart and Winston, 1984. Harjo,
Page 391 and 392:
Cochran, Jo (Lakota), et al. Bearin
Page 393 and 394:
Larson, Charles R. American Indian
Page 395 and 396:
“Black-feet, Blood and Peigan Hun
Page 397 and 398:
INDEX Abanaki Indians, 23 Abzug, Be
Page 399 and 400:
ceremonies) Beloved Woman of the Na
Page 401 and 402:
(“rope baby”), 258; and women a
Page 403 and 404:
Crazy Horse (Sioux leader), 115, 26
Page 405 and 406:
Elderly, the: treatment of, 49, 191
Page 407 and 408:
Ghost Dance, 115. See also Dances G
Page 409 and 410:
life, 196-99, 202, 205, 245-47, 250
Page 411 and 412:
Kilpatrick, Jack and Anna, 116 King
Page 413 and 414:
Patriarchy Malinalli (La Malinche;
Page 415 and 416:
Moraga, Cherrie, 214 Morgan, Lewis
Page 417 and 418:
Ortiz, Simon J., 101, 131-32, 264 O
Page 419 and 420:
Quakers, 3, 35. See also Christiani
Page 421 and 422:
Sacred Twins, 19, 27. See also Uret
Page 423 and 424:
Squaws, see Sunksquaws Standing Bea
Page 425 and 426:
Oral tradition Trobriand Islands, 2
Page 427 and 428:
52, 264 West, the (as symbol): colo
Page 429 and 430:
World War II, 21, 125 Wovoka (Paiut
Page 431 and 432:
American Indian studies; Marta Fiel
Page 433 and 434:
May they hold this writing in their
Page 435 and 436:
All rights reserved, including with
Page 438 and 439:
Open Road Integrated Media is a dig
show all

The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?