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Books on : Literature & Fiction : World Literature : Canadian : Native Literature : General
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The Ojibway Indians' sense of humor sparkles through these stories set on the fictional Moose Meat Point Indian Reserve, connected by a dirt road to the town of Blunder Bay. If some of them seem "farfetched and even implausible," Basil L. Johnston writes, "it is simply because human beings very often act and conduct their affairs and those of others in an absurd manner."These twenty-two stories were originally collected under the title Moose Meat and Wild Rice. Among the most memorable of the stories is "They Don't Want No Indians," in which all attempts are made to circumvent bureaucratic red tape and transport a dead Indian to his home for burial. One of the funniest is "Indian Smart: Moose Smart," which pits a moose in a lake against six Moose Meaters in two canoes. "If You Want to Play" and "Secular Revenge" are the result of misunderstanding or imperfect communication. Still other stories, like "What Is Sin?" and "The Kiss and the Moonshine," reveal the clash of different cultural approaches. All show the warm-heartedness and good will of the Ojibway Indians. If they are gently satirized, so are the whites who would change them, and with good reason. Government ineptitude and rigid piety are foisted on the Moose Meaters, who have only thirty thousand acres to move around in.
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The Ojibway Indians were first encountered by the French early in the seventeenth century along the northern shores of Lakes Huron and Superior. By the time Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized them in The Song of Hiawatha, they had dispersed over large areas of Canada and the United States, becoming known as the Chippewas in the latter. A rare and fascinating glimpse of Ojibway culture before its disruption by the Europeans is provided in Ojibway Ceremonies by Basil Johnston, himself an Ojibway who was born on the Parry Island Indian Reserve.Johnston focuses on a young member of the tribe and his development through participation in the many rituals so important to the Ojibway way of life, from the Naming Ceremony and the Vision Quest to the War Path, and from the Marriage Ceremony to the Ritual of the Dead. In the style of a tribal storyteller, Johnston preserves the attitudes and beliefs of forest dwellers and hunters whose lives were vitalized by a sense of the supernatural and of mystery.
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Fans of Jean Auel will love this series that began with Picture Maker, a book called "an absorbing adventure tale...brought to life through the eyes of [Spinka's] courageous heroine", Library Journal crowned it "absolutely fascinating."
Publishers Weekly called Picture Maker "an absorbing adventure tale...brought to life through the eyes of [Spinka's] courageous heroine." Library Journal crowned it "absolutely fascinating." Now Penina Keen Spinka once again sweeps readers back nearly a thousand years...to a time when the Vikings crossed the vast oceans in search of a new homeland, and a place--the majestic wilds of North America--bitterly divided by blood and war.
In the four years since Picture Maker and her loved ones were driven north, many changes have come to a people and a land. The long, arduous journey that took Picture Maker from a young Indian separated from her tribe to a bride of Halvard has come to an end. It falls to Halvard and their daughter, Ingrid, an emerging woman, to return to Greenland and reclaim their home. Here, their Norse traditions are rejected by the newly Christian community, where an infestation of beautiful rare butterflies has resulted in plunder and bloodshed. Forced to wander once more, the family takes refuge with the Inuits, who have proven to be allies in the past. But Ingrid, answering the powerful call of her mother's blood, soon embarks on another journey-one that takes her to a far-off land, where her true destiny awaits.
Breathtaking in scope and historical detail, this is a sprawling adventure in the grand tradition of Jean M. Auel and Jane Smiley by a gifted author who writes "unique and remarkable stories" (Anna Lee Waldo, author of Circle of Stones and Sacajawea).
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The offspring of an Ojibway mother and a white father whom he has never known, Drew Hayden Taylor has long addressed vexed issues of identity and the complicated relationship between Native people and whites with sharp insight and a frequently unsettling sense of humor. Carefully examining these writings, this collection analyzes Taylor's writing from both aboriginal and non-aboriginal perspectives. Contributors include Birgit Däwes, Jonathan R. Dewar, Kristina Fagan, Rob Appleford, Ric Knowles, and Monique Mojica.
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The five complete and unabridged works collected here are parts of a long and passionate testimony about American Indian culture as related by Indians themselves. Deep emotions and life-shaking crises converge in these pages concerning identity, family, community, caste, gender, nature, the future, the past, solitude, duty, trust, betrayal, leadership, war, and apocalypse. Each work is also regarded as a classic of Native literature and has much to teach.The Life of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh (1847) by George Copway, a Canadian Ojibwe writer and lecturer, describes his unique and difficult cultural journey from the tiny village of his youth to the legislatures of the world, speaking for the rights and sovereignty of Indians.The Soul of the Indian (1911) by Charles Eastman, a physician and mixed-blood Sioux, depicts “the religious life of the typical American Indian as it was before he knew the white man.”American Indian Stories (1921) by Zitkala-Ša, one of the most famous Sioux writers and activists of the modern era, includes legends and tales from oral tradition, childhood stories, and allegorical fiction.Coyote Stories (1933) by Mourning Dove, an Okanagan writer, retells the popular trickster tales of Coyote, the most resilient character in all of American literature.Black Elk Speaks (1932) as told through John G. Neihardt, is the spacious religious vision and candid life story of a Lakota holy man. Neihardt and Black Elk collaborated to produce a unique and inspirational work.
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“The most we can hope for is that we are paraphrased correctly.” In this statement, Lenore Keeshig-Tobias underscores one of the main issues in the representation of Aboriginal peoples by non-Aboriginals. Non-Aboriginal people often fail to understand the sheer diversity, multiplicity, and shifting identities of Aboriginal people. As a result, Aboriginal people are often taken out of their own contexts.
Walking a Tightrope plays an important role in the dynamic historical process of ongoing change in the representation of Aboriginal peoples. It locates and examines the multiplicity and distinctiveness of Aboriginal voices and their representations, both as they portray themselves and as others have characterized them. In addition to exploring perspectives and approaches to the representation of Aboriginal peoples, it also looks at Native notions of time (history), land, cultures, identities, and literacies. Until these are understood by non-Aboriginals, Aboriginal people will continue to be misrepresented—both as individuals and as groups.
By acknowledging the complex and unique legal and historical status of Aboriginal peoples, we can begin to understand the culture of Native peoples in North America. Until then, given the strength of stereotypes, Native people have come to expect no better representation than a paraphrase.
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This book gathers poetry, essays, memoir, and fiction by Native American writer Beth Brant. Brant uses these genres to examine various kinds of family: blood parents and children, siblings of like-minded politics, the mother-sister patter that informs lesbian couplings. She is especially wise about the necessity to re-create family in cultures such as her own, which other cultures have tried to eradicate.
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A collection of myths and Legends from the Native people of Alaska and Canada. Stories include: "The Giant", "The Woman Magician", "Up to the Top of the Sky", and "Down to the Bottom of the Sea". "The Dwarf People", "Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes", "The Last of the Thunderbirds". "The Red Skeleton" and "Even a Grass Plant can become Someone if it Tries."
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Irretrievably Broken is the haunting, funny, and heart-breaking account of German ex-patriots Nora, Ruth, and Bettina Adler. The plot takes us across the U.S., to the bush country of Canada, and to a cold case murder scene in Germany, as this multi-cultural family deals with diversity and racism. The novel is populated with unforgettable characters in a candid exploration of race. Nora is obsessed with her Native-American husband she's about to divorce and consumed with guilt over the harm she may have caused a friend; Ruth, whose inappropriate statements may well cause Obama's grandmother to cringe, witnessed a brutal murder and saved a life during the Holocaust; and 12-year-old Bettina, child of a black African-American and a white German, is devastated by the death of her mother and neglect of her father. Irretrievably Broken is a novel of secrets and revelations, of love and loss, of guilt and forgiveness, of family and friendship.
Jacket art by Kellie von Beck, www.kellievonbeck.com
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This second edition of the now standard survey of writing in English by Canadian native people brings together a broad range of works, from traditional songs and historical documents to short stories, plays, poems, and essays. The new edition includes fourteen new writers.
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Native North America describes the common struggle in diverse indigenous cultures to overcome the physical, psychological, and spiritual assault of colonialism, assimilation, and racism. The contributors to this wide-ranging collection of original essays share a commitment to resistance and to the spirit of survival so apparent in the works of indigenous peoples. Gathering force from their diverse perspectives and regional backgrounds, the 13 essayists unite experience and expertise. Working against the conventional idea that Native North American literatures are primarily of anthropological and sociological value, they emphasize the importance of artistic expression in the life of native communities. Their provocative essays deal with such topics as Native North American history, law, oral narratives, poetry, fiction, and film. Together, they proclaim the autonomy and the integrity of Native North America.Contributors include Patricia Monture Angus (University of Saskatchewan); Gerald Vizenor (University of California, Berkeley); Clifford Trafzer (University of California, Riverside); Harmut Lutz (University of Greifswald); Armand Garnet Ruffo (Carleton University); Agnes Grant (Brandon University); Margery Fee (University of British Columbia); Ron Marken (University of Saskatchewan); Patricia Riley (University of Idaho); Marie-Annette Jaimes Guerrero (San Francisco State University); Jo-Ann Thom (Saskatchewan Indian Federated College); Charlotte Hussey (McGill University); and Jeanne Perreault (University of Calgary).
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And there he was - Charlie Muskrat, out of moose meat for the winter and committed to getting some, who finds himself in Prince Albert with a 30/30 Winchester under the seat of his truck, Thunder, half a tank of gas, half a thermos of coffee, lots of Cheezies and a desire to drive south. What follows is that trip. Accompanied off and on by the phantom hitchhikers from history - the mythical ones like the Trickster, Wesakicak, Greek gods, writers, philosophers and politicians, Charlie motors along to the backdrop of Johnny Cash gospel songs and his own foggy memories of his purpose. Through Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Trenton, Sudbury, Ottawa and Toronto and all along the way are those sendup moments of laughter that Johnson does so well - the US border guards who must turn Charlie away on gun issues, the Indian Affairs people with their bags of money, the bar conversations on literature in Toronto. But as we laugh, we do so cautiously, for Johnson reminds us that we are in touch with Charlie's FAS mind, his Cree culture, and the vision he has as a First Nations man living in Canada. Oh, and there are the magic diamonds in the leather pouch that have to find their way home as well.
Charlie Muskrat is socially insightful, politically incorrect, funny, and dangerous in his own naivety, and his road trip unfolds as an unforgettable journey in Canadian culture.
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In Rankin Inlet, a small town bordering the Arctic Ocean, the lives of the Inuit are gradually changing. The caribou and seals are no longer plentiful, and Western commerce has come to the community through a proposed diamond mine. Victoria Robertson wakes to a violent storm, her three children stirring in the dark. Her father, Emo, a legendary hunter who has come in off the land to work in a mine, checks to see if the family is all right. So does her Inuit lover, as Victoria’s British husband is away on business.
Thus the reader enters into the modern contradictions of the Arctic—walrus meat and convenience food, midnight sun and 24-hour satellite TV, dog teams and diamond mines—and into the heart of Victoria's internal exile. Born on the tundra in the 1950s, Victoria knows nothing but the nomadic life of the Inuit until, at the age of ten, she is diagnosed with tuberculosis and evacuated to a southern sanitarium. When she returns home six years later, she finds a radically different world, where the traditionally rootless tribes have uneasily congregated in small communities. And Victoria has become a stranger to her family and her culture.
Victoria compounds her marginalization by marrying a non-Inuit, Robertson, the manager of the town store. Over the years, as her children gravitate toward the pop culture of the mainland, and as her husband aggressively exploits the economic opportunities that the Arctic offers, Victoria feels torn between her family and her ancestors, between the communal life of the North and the material life of the “South.” Through Victoria, Kevin Patterson deftly exposes the costs and consequences of cultural assimilation, and the emotional toll that such significant lifestyle changes take on communities.
Spanning countries, generations, and cultures, Consumption is an epic novel of the Arctic, and a penetrating portrait of generational division and cultural dissonance.