Indiana University Press Chapter Title: N Book Title: Dictionary of Midwestern Literature, Volume 2 Book Subtitle: Dimensions of the Midwestern Literary Imagination Book Editor(s): Philip A. Greasley Published by: Indiana University Press. (2016) Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1zxz124.14 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Indiana University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Dictionary of Midwestern Literature, Volume 2 This content downloaded from 132.174.252.180 on Sat, 28 Mar 2020 00:49:08 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms N NARRATIVES. tion of Native American lit er a ture grew to See Captivity Narratives; Slave Narratives wide popularity. Momaday’s novel is both nonlinear and nonchronological, two char­ NATIVE A MERICAN LITERATURE acteristics that link it with the tradition of OVERVIEW: Stories have long served many oral storytelling. Midwestern Native Amer­ functions in Native American families, com­ ican writers have used nonlinear and non­ munities, and nations. Largely passed along chronological forms. Other connections also through the oral tradition, stories describe exist between oral and written forms in every thing from the creation of the world to Native American lit er a ture, especially in cultural norms, history, religion, relations poetry. The repetition and form of poetry with other tribes, and internal governance. easily relate to the oral tradition. However, These stories, which were shaped both by Native American writers in the Midwest the storytellers and by listeners, centered a have published in a wide variety of genres, people’s place in the world and the cosmos. both adapting ele ments of oral tradition and In modern times, stories have been recorded incorporating new forms that allow them to and written and have taken on a variety of better express themselves. No single form or forms and functions. In addition, there are theme alone can characterize Native Ameri­ clear influences, such as repetition, derived can lit er a tures of the Midwest. In fact, diver­ from oral tradition, that are pres ent in many sity is one of the most useful descriptions of con temporary written works. Furthermore, Native American lit er a tures. The vast po liti­ con temporary lit er a ture serves many of the cal, cultural, economic, and religious diver­ same functions as the oral tradition. sity of the more than five hundred nations Native Americans have been publishing that encompass the category “Native Ameri­ short stories, poetry, novels, autobiogra­ can / American Indian” is reflected in the phies, and nonfiction since at least the early litr e a ture. nineteenth century. Yet it was not until Ki­ Native Americans historically have owa author N(avarre) Scott Momaday (b. maintained large populations in the Mid­ 1934) won the Pulitzer Prize for House Made west and continue to do so in the pres ent. of Dawn (1968) that con temporary publica­ Native American nations in the Midwest in­ This content downloaded from 132.174.252.180 on Sat, 28 Mar 2020 00:49:08 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 549 N ATIVE A MERICAN L ITERATURE clude the Anishinaabe (also called Ojibwe, Native American lit er a tures of the Midwest. Ojibwa, and Chippewa), Arikira, Brother­ As with any lit er a ture, multiple, layered town Mohican (Stockbridge-­Munsee), Hi­ meanings will come to light when they are datsa, Ho-­Chunk (formerly called Win­ placed within their proper context. Many nebago), Mandan, Menominee, Meskwaki readers will find it useful to know bio­ (Fox) and Sac (Sauk) Miami, Omaha, Oneida, graphical information about the authors Ottawa (or Odawa), Ponca, Potawatomi, because it will often give insight into the Shawnee, and Sioux (Lakota, Dakota, and themes and topics of their writing. Nakota). Several popu lar and influential Na­ HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE: Native tive American writers live in the Midwest or Americans have been pres ent in the Mid­ have tribal connections to the area. Most west since time immemorial. Many tribes litr e a ture published by Native Americans believe that they originated in the region or in the Midwest is in En glish, but current came to be there through divine directives. language-­revitalization efforts include pub­ The first encounter of many Native Ameri­ lication of works in Native languages. Wiig­ can nations with non-­Indians was with wassi Press in conjunction with Birchbark the French, the leaders in the GREAT LAKES Books, for example, is publishing texts in fur trade. The widespread introduction of the Anishinaabe language. Eu ro pean goods, including beads, metal The field of Native American lit er a ture goods, and weapons, changed life for Native has grown in scope, and Midwestern au­ Americans; however, the fur trade also thors continue to make significant contri­ brought about exchanges of information butions to the field. An increasing number and worldviews. As Eu ro pean populations of writers are using lit er a ture as a means to grew, Native American nations of the delineate Native concepts of sovereignty, Midwest signed many treaties to establish nationalism, and transnationalism. Many bound aries, alliances, and peace, but by themes are found in Native American lit er­ the nineteenth century the sale of land be­ a ture of the Midwest; for example, both came a primary impetus for treaties. Native HUMOR and trickster themes are common in nations sold millions of acres of land to the Native American lit er a ture of the Midwest. United States, generally reserving hunt­ These themes have their roots in Native ing, fishing, and gathering rights on ceded American cultures and serve to invert tragic territories, as well as possession of smaller images while encouraging fortitude and of­ portions of land, which would become fering hope for the future. Place is also cen­ reservations. tral to many Native Americans, and this The U.S. government began to see Native sense of place is reflected in the lit er a ture. American nations as an impediment to Nature writing and other themes relating to the nation’s pro gress and, consequently, place are frequently found in Native Ameri­ launched assimilation programs aimed at can lit er a tures of the region. Challenging cultural and po liti cal genocide. Education the popu lar portrayals of historical figures was a primary tool in this endeavor, and and events is another prominent theme. Fi­ many Native Americans learned the En glish nally, identity is perhaps the most common language at government schools. As a result theme in Native American lit er a tures of the of these policies, significant language loss Midwest. Authors delineate their identity in among Native Americans has occurred, and relation to their tribal nation, their family, most lit er a ture published by them today is in and the outside world. En glish. During the twentieth century Na­ This entry will discuss oral lit er a ture, tive American populations also shifted including stories, songs, and oratory; from reservations to urban areas. The U.S. nineteenth-­century writers and memoir­ government’s policy of relocation during ists; twentieth-­ and twenty-­first-­century the 1950s accelerated this shift, but Natives memoirists; and twentieth­ and twenty­ have also been attracted to urban areas first-­century literary writers. In addition, because of education and employment the aforementioned categories will be di­ opportunities. vided by tribal nation. Historical and cultural Oralr Lit e a ture: Native American oral contexts are essential for understanding lit er a ture includes stories about creation and This content downloaded from 132.174.252.180 on Sat, 28 Mar 2020 00:49:08 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms N ATIVE A MERICAN L ITERATURE 550 origin; tribal tricksters and culture heroes; Many traditional Native American sacred songs and prayers, spoken and stories deal with a trickster or culture hero sung; and po liti cal, social, and ceremonial like Nanabozho, the trickster/culture-­hero oratory. Since the time Native Americans figure of the Anishinaabe, who is known by first encountered Euro-­Americans, these a variety of names, including Wenabozho spoken forms have been recorded, tran­ and Nanapush. Nanabozho stories instruct scribed, and published by both Indians and the Anishinaabe how they should and non -­Indians. Because oral lit er a ture reflects should not behave, as well as on the origin the great diversity of Native American reli­ of many things. These stories carry many gious beliefs, social structures, cultural cus­ broad and deep meanings and are under­ toms, and languages, it is useful to study stood in a wide variety of ways. Nanabozho oral lit er a ture within the social and histori­ is fallable, and the Anishinaabe learn from cal contexts of individual tribes. his misfortunes. Anthropologists were eager Motivated by the desire to rec ord Native to rec ord Nanabozho stories be cause of the American stories and songs before they cultural significance of the stories, as well as “dis appeared,” non-­Indian ethnographers because of their fear that there would come and anthropologists collected traditional a time when the stories would no longer be stories and songs from several tribes. Ethnol­ told. ogist and Indian agent HENRY ROWE SCHOOL­ The stories in Victor Barnouw’s Wiscon- CRAFT (1793–1864), published several collec­ sin Chippewa Myths and Tales (1977) were re­ tions, such as Algic Researches (1839), which corded by anthropologists and we re told includes such stories as “The Summer­ primarily by five members of the Lac Court Maker” (Anishinaabe) and “The Celestial Oreilles and Lac du Flambeau bands of Sisters” (Shawnee).