The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

throughout the United States, increased funding for realization of
tribal sovereignty, and the reburial of human remains carted
away to storage in countless bins in museums and universities.
Our recovery also looks to economic issues, such as adequate,
Indian-oriented health care, fair employment practices,
educational parity, and economic development for rural and
urban Indian communities. It encompasses the widespread return
of Indian people from every tribe to traditional practices and
celebrations, the continuing and increasing publication of
literary works by American Indian authors, and exhibitions of
American Indian arts—both contemporary and traditional—in
Indian-owned and -operated museums and galleries as well as in
wealthier venues recognized by peoples around the world.
These occurrences, along with a growing number of films, plays,
dance performances, and scholarship devoted to themes of
American Indian life and thought, constitute a mighty cultural
flowering, a truly Native American Renaissance.
Surely this is the time referred to in ancient prophecy: the time
when the clans come in and the blue star Kachina dances in the
village square, when the Grandmother goddesses return and
Native Americans lead the world into a new age of peace,
balance, harmony, and respect for all that is. In the last census
the numbers of Indian people reported almost doubled. This
surge is partly attributable to better canvassing, organized and
carried out by native community leaders in urban Indian
enclaves under the direction of the U.S. Census Bureau. But even
more, the increase can be credited to a new willingness of lost
Indians to identify themselves. It seems that the restoration of
Indian dignity, culture, and tradition has encouraged these
dramatic events. Some respondents to a New York Times query
said that Kevin Costner’s film Dances with Wolves provided
them with the sense of pride and safety they needed to publicly
affirm their Indianness. In West Virginia a movement led by