DOCUMENT RESUME ED 423 543 CS 216 508 AUTHOR Susag, Dorothea M. TITLE Roots and Branches: A Resource of Native American Literature--Themes, Lessons, and Bibliographies. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL. ISBN ISBN-0-8141-4195-1 PUB DATE 1998-00-00 NOTE 327p.; Foreword by Joseph Bruchac. AVAILABLE FROM National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 41951: $18.95 members, $25.95 nonmembers). PUB TYPE Books (010)-- Guides Classroom Teacher (052) Reference Materials Bibliographies (131) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC14 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *American Indian Culture; *American Indian Literature; Annotated Bibliographies; Class Activities; Lesson Plans; Literary Genres; Secondary Education; *Stereotypes; Units of Study IDENTIFIERS *Native Americans ABSTRACT This resource book offers teachers an opportunity to learn and to teach about Native American literature in context. Starting with a discussion of themes, rationales, and subthemes, it moves to an examination of the historical and literary contexts that frame the literary work of Native peoples. Lessons, units, and activities in the book keyed to grade level offer practical support. Detailed annotated bibliographies direct the teacher to other resources--historical, cultural, and educational. Appendixes address geographical contexts, historical context, stereotypes, cultural and spiritual contexts; and list North Central regional publications and commercial resources. (RS) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** fit.' 2 - 4v2.-"tr's U.S. DEPARTMENT Or EDUCATION Office ol Educahonai Researchand Improyemen I EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIOI ! CENTER (ERIC) .'.8117..trsdocument has been reproduced V.;I 'mewed from the person or organizahot onginating it. 0 Minor changes have been made toornprove .f reproduchon Quality. Points of umw o optmona stated m thm deco I ment do not necessarily represent &from OERI position or policy PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY VV1 TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) , - II . I II Roots and Branches 3 NCTE Editorial Board: Pat Cordeiro, Colette Daiute, Bobbi Fisher, Brenda Greene, Richard Luckert, Bill McBride, Al leen Pace Nilsen, Jerrie Cobb Scott, Karen Smith, Chair, ex officio, Peter Feely, ex officio Roots and Branches A Resource of Native American Literature Themes, Lessons, and Bibliographies Dorothea M. Susag Simms High School Simms, Montana National Council of Teachers of English 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096 Prepress Services: Precision Graphics Staff Editor: Zarina M. Hock Interior Design: Doug Burnett Cover Design: Precision Graphics Cover Art: Jack Real Bird NCTE Stock Number: 41951-3050 © 1998 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any partic- ular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Commit- tee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. A portion of the royalties from sale of this book will be given to Montana tribal libraries. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Susag, Dorothea M. Roots and branches : a resource of Native American literature themes, lessons, and bibliographies / Dorothea M. Susag. p.cm. "NCTE stock number: 41986"--T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8141-4195-1 1. American literature--Indian authors--Study and teaching- Outlines, syllabi, etc.2. Indian literature--Study and teaching- Outlines, syllabi, etc.3. American literatureIndian authors- Themes, motives, etc.4. American literatureIndian authors- Bibliography.5. Indian literature--Themes, motives, etc. 6. Indians in literature--Bibliography.7. Indian literature- Bibliography. I. National Council of Teachers of English. II. Title. PS153.I52S871998 810.9'897--dc21 98-45105 CIP This book was typeset in Palatino and Avant Garde by Precision Graphics of Champaign, Illinois. Typefaces on the cover and spine were Industria and Syntax. The book was printed by Versa Press of East Peoria, Illinois. 6 V Contents Foreword: The Places Where the Stories Camp vii Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Permissions xvii Introduction 1 1. Themes, Rationales, and Subthemes 10 2. Historical and Cultural Literary Contexts 36 3. Secondary Level Units, Lessons, and Activities 52 4. Bibliography of Resources for Teachers 102 5. Bibliography of Anthologies 124 6. Bibliography of Native Literatures 140 7. Non-Native Authors and Their Stories about Native Americans 213 Appendix A: Geographical Contexts 239 Appendix B: Historical Context 246 Appendix C: StereotypesSources and Definitions 253 Appendix D: Cultural and Spiritual Contexts 259 Appendix E: North Central Regional Publications 267 Appendix F: Commercial Resources 288 Author 296 About the Cover 297 Index 298 vii Foreword: The Places Where the Stories Camp My story is out walking around. My story is a forest person of the old times, one who wears clothing made from moss and a belt made out of ashzvood withes. And here is the place where my story chooses to camp. In rough English translation, those are the words Abenaki storytellers often used to begin the telling of a traditional tale. The story approaches the listener, not just as a collection of words, notas an abstraction, but as a living being, one who remembers and is about to share. I have long been impressed by the memory of stories. I do not mean the way humans remember storiesimpressive as that is. Complicated stories actually seem to be easier to remember than sim- ple facts. It is as if our brains have been hot-wired to hold the form of a story more securely than almost anything else and the telling of sto- ries can be found at the heart of every human culture. In this case, however, when I speak of the memory of stories, I mean the way stories themselves remember the things that individu- als (and nations) find it so easy to forget. Those lessons of moralcon- duct, of humility and of courage, of survival itself are held firm in the story's grasp. The old stories, those tales that have truly become tra- dition, are not just interesting for people to hearthey are as neces- sary as breath itself, the sacred breath that carries the words of life. When we speak of "Native American" or "American Indian" cultures we are speaking of not just one single way of life, but gener- alizing about hundreds of extremely varied cultures stretching over a vast expanse. Unless we are out walking this land, we tend to forget the real geography of this continent we live on. One of the great mis- takes made in the past by teachers and writers alike has been to see the Native peoples of America as simple "Indians," vanishing, irrele- vant, locked into a distant past. (One of the true services of this book is to counter such stereotypes and provide access to a deeper under- standing of a multiplicity of Native American cultures through the 8 Foreword words of Native people themselves.) Yet there is one generalization that can be made about our more than 400 different American Indian nations. We all share a deep respect for the power, a power that often can only be described as sacred, of stories. Language, in the living shape of a song or a story, makes things happen. It is for this reason that many Native people are uncomfortable with the words "myth" and "legend" being applied to our stories. For many people, myths and legends are seen as frivolous, untrue, parts of childhood meant to be left behind like a belief in "Never- Never Land." But our stories are, even when they are humorous, far from irrelevant. They are true in the deepest sense of the word, true because they are alive. True because they know more than we do. As a storyteller I am always telling people that I do not learn stories, I learn from stories. I do not just tell stories, I listen to them as they tell themselves to me, as I loan them my voice. So I find myself referring to that vast body of songs and stories, the oral (and written) literatures of the Americas, as traditions. The coming of Europeans to the western hemisphere brought, among other things, a sustained assault upon Native cultures. Our cultures were often either ignored as irrelevant (or nonexistent) or attacked. Our living traditions, both oral and written, were threat- ened with purposeful destruction. Over 400 years ago, in Mexico, Spanish priests collected thousands or written books, the Codices of the Mayan and Aztec nations, piled them up, and burned them. In the United States, as recently as two decades ago, Native children were sent to boarding schools where the speaking of Native lan- guages, the singing of traditional songs, was forbidden. Despite it all, though much was lost, much survived. It survived not just because of the tenacity of Native people but because of the necessity of those tra- ditions. And, interestingly enough, those traditions did not just survive in their original forms. If I might make another generalization about Native American cultures, it is this: Native American cultures have consistently displayed an ability to absorb and incorporate new things. (In terms of material culture, consider the way the horse absent for thousands of years from the continentbecame the heart of Plains cultures less than two generations after that beautiful ani- mal's reintroduction by the Spanish.) Early on, as early as the Euro- pean occupation of Peru, Native people began to write in European languages. The American Indian as a writer in Spanish, English, and French is not just a phenomenon of the twentieth century.