I Story As a Weapon in Colonized America Elizabeth Leigh Wilkinson
Story as a Weapon in Colonized America Elizabeth Leigh Wilkinson Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Literature Harry Dyer and Robert Siegle, Co-directors Jeff Corntassel David Radcliffe April 17, 2002 Blacksburg, Virginia Key words: American Indian, Literature, Colonization, Decolonization Copyright 2002, Elizabeth L. Wilkinson i Story as a Weapon in Colonized America Elizabeth Leigh Wilkinson (ABSTRACT) From first contact, Europeans and Euro-Americans have been representing North American indigenous peoples in literature. Non-Indian authors colonized American Indian stories and re-presented them through a Western worldview, which distorted and misrepresented Indian peoples. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s piece, Song of Hiawatha, published in 1855 is an early example of this, and Ann Rinaldi’s children’s book, My Heart Is on the Ground, is a contemporary example. However, Indian peoples are not mere victims. Using story as a weapon for “decolonization,” American Indian authors have self-re-presented and, through literature, have fought for a more accurate, tribal specific presentation of self to the dominant culture. Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin) authored decolonizing, autobiographical articles and short stories as early as 1901 and collected and published these in her text American Indian Stories in 1920. James Welch continued a legacy of tribal specific, American Indian authored literature with his 1986 publication, Fools Crow. Both texts work as weapons in the decolonization of American literature. ii (ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS) I would like to acknowledge, with very sincere appreciation, the many long hours Harry Dyer has spent with me, not just on this thesis, but on the many literary projects leading up to this thesis.
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