For the Module 3 blog, I reviewed the ipl2 database of
Native American authors through the Internet Public Library. At first I thought it would just be a listing
of authors but it is much more comprehensive than that. By clicking on a tribal name, it lists all
the authors from that tribe as well as links to additional information. From the main screen, a search can be done to
find authors, titles or tribes. This
website is a gold mine and I wish I had looked at it before now as it would
have been helpful in my previous studies.
Since Chief Joseph from the Nez Perce tribe is the voice I am studying,
I clicked on the Nez Perce tribal link which showed me that there are three
authors – Joe McLellan, W.S. Penn and Elizabeth Wilson. Further scrolling down the page there are
listings for online resources about the Nez Perce tribe which is a wealth of
information. I’m always happy to see
anything that women have accomplished so I was drawn to find more information
about Elizabeth Wilson.
While Elizabeth is a descendant of Chief Joseph, her father
was a non-Indian so the “folklore, customs and living skills” were taught to
her by her mother, Tukpe-me. She also
attended the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania for seven years and one of
her accomplishments was becoming a pianist.
She was involved in other projects that promoted keeping the Nez Perce
language and customs alive but is best known for her oral recordings that can
be used by future generations. When I
clicked on the Ojibwe tribe, I expected to find Anton Treuer listed but I did
not. While this web page is active, it
is no longer being updated so perhaps that is the reason.
Elizabeth Wilson
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteI discovered contemporary Native American author that you might want to check out.
Her name is Leslie Marmon Silko, critically acclaimed and regarded as an important player in the Native American Renaissance, which is the influx of literary works starting from the late 1960’s on. She is Laguna Pueblo, Mexican, white, and grew up on the Laguna Pueblo reservation. She graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1969, and began her literary career after briefly attending law school. Ceremony, written in 1977 is her most notable work and is a fiction novel about a Laguna-white WW II veteran who returns from the war and has many psychological obstacles to overcome before finally finding peace in his Laguna heritage. Ceremony and her other works are steeped in Pueblo oral tradition, and she is a wealth of knowledge in Pueblo history. The interview in the links below is especially intriguing, because she describes how important the oral tradition is as a collective contribution by the entire community. She describes it as a “self-correcting process,” where “there is no single entity that controls or dictates” (Irmer). She describes when during a storytelling, someone might remember it slightly different, and will politely say, “I remember it this way” (Irmer). I find her inspiring, how she uses the old Native stories in her works. She understands the relevance and weight that they still carry today.
Gardner, Kasey. Idigenous Religious Traditions. Colorado College. 03 June 2016. Web.
http://sites.coloradocollege.edu/IndigenousTraditions/6-%E2%80%A2-independent-%20projects/leslie-marmon-silko-ceremony/
Irmer, Thomas. An Interview With Leslie Marmon Silko. The Write Stuff, Germany. 03 June 2016. Web.
http://www.altx.com/interviews/silko.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Marmon_Silko