Literature of Native American Peoples

8G:5  Literatures of Native American Peoples (Cultural Diversity or Humanities)

Native American storytelling consists of a wide range of voices and themes across different tribes, times, and places.  In this class, traditional aspects of Native American literature—vibrant oral histories, myths, and stories—will be paired with writings by modern writers who wrestle with personal and tribal identity, the challenges of reservation life, and negotiations with non-Native American culture.  Because of the traditionally rich oral and visual components of Native American storytelling, materials for the course will likely be drawn from several media, including audio recordings, film, poetry, fiction, essays, and drama.  

Specific Course Description and texts used in recent versions of this course

Texts that have been used in recent years for this course.  (This is a comprehensive list.  During any particular semester, only a few of these texts or similar ones will be used for a specific section of 8G:5)

Autobiography / Biography

• Allen, Paula Gunn, Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat  (Harper Collins)
• Apess, On Our Own Ground: The Complete Writings of William Apess, A Pequot, ed. Barry O' Connell  (University of Massachusetts Press)
• Black Elk, as told to John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks  (University of Nebraska Press)
• Black Hawk, as told to Antoine LeClair, Life of Black Hawk, ed. Milo Milton Quaife  (Dover)
• Crow Dog, Mary, Lakota Woman  (Harper Collins)
• Eastman, Charles, From the Deep Woods to Civilization  (University of Nebraska Press)
• Geronimo, as told to S. M. Barrett, Geronimo: His Own Story, ed. Frederick W. Turner  (NAL Plume)
• Hopkins, Sarah Winnemucca, Life Among the Piutes  (University of Nevada Press)
• Krupat and Swann, Here First: Autobiographical Essays by Native American Writers  (Random House)
• Johnson, Joseph, To Do Good to My Indian Brethren: The Writings of Joseph Johnson, 1751-1776, ed. Laura J. Murray (University of Massachusetts Press)
• Momaday, N. Scott, The Names: A Memoir  (University of Arizona Press)
• Momaday,N. Scott, The Way to Rainy Mountain  (University of New Mexico Press)
• Standing Bear, Luther, My People the Sioux  (University of Nebraska Press)
• Zitkala-Sa, American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings  (Penguin)

Drama

• D'Aponte, Mimi, ed., Seventh Generation: An Anthology of Native American Plays  (Theater Communications Group)
• Geiogamah, Hanay, New Native American Drama: Three Plays  (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Glancy, Diane, American Gypsy: Six Native American Plays  (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Highway, Tomson, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing  (Fifth House Publishing)
• Highway, Tomson, The Rez Sisters  (Fifth House Publishing)  [Note: pairs effectively with previous play]
• Riggs, Lynn, The Cherokee Night and Other Plays  (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Two-Rivers, E. Donald, Briefcase Warriors  (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Yellow Robe, William S., Where the Pavement Ends: Five Native American Plays  (University of Oklahoma Press)

Novels

• Alexie, Sherman, Indian Killer  (Time Warner)
• Alexie, Sherman, Reservation Blues  (Harper Collins)
• Bell, Betty Louise, Faces in the Moon  (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Callahan, S. Alice, Wynema: A Child of the Forest  (University of Nebraska Press)
• Conley, Robert, Mountain Windsong: A Novel of the Trail of Tears  (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Deloria, Ella, Waterlily  (University of Nebraska Press)
• Dorris, Michael, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water  (Time Warner)
• Erdrich, Louise, The Antelope Wife  (Harper Collins)
• Erdrich, Louise, Tracks  (Harper Collins)
• Glancy, Diane, Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears  (Harcourt Brace)
• Glancy, Diane, Stone Heart: A Novel of Sacajawea  (Overlook / Penguin)
• Hale, Janet Campbell, The Jailing of Cecelia Capture  (University of New Mexico Press)
• Hogan, Linda, Power  (Norton)
• Hogan, Linda, Solar Storms  (Simon and Schuster)
• King, Thomas, Green Grass, Running Water  (Bantam)
• Louis, Adrian, Skins  (Ellis Press)
• Mathews, John Joseph, Sundown  (University of Oklahoma Press)
• McNickle, D'Arcy, The Surrounded  (University of New Mexico Press)
• Momaday, N. Scott, The Ancient Child  (Harper Collins)
• Momaday, N. Scott, House Made of Dawn  (Harper Collins)
• Mourning Dove, Cogewea, the Half Blood  (University of Nebraska Press)
• Power, Susan, The Grass Dancer  (Berkeley Publishing Group / Penguin)
•  Ridge, John Rollin, Joaquin Murieta  (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Silko, Leslie Marmon, Ceremony  (Penguin)
• Treuer, David, The Hiawatha  (Picador / St. Martin’s Press)
• Welch, James, The Death of Jim Loney  (Penguin)
• Welch, James, Fools Crow  (Penguin)
• Welch, James, Winter in the Blood  (Penguin)

Poetry

• Alexie, Sherman, The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems  (Hanging Loose Press)
• Harjo, Joy, She Had Some Horses  (Thunder's Mouth Press / Publishers Group West)
• Harjo, Joy, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky  (Norton)
• Niatum, Duane, ed., Harper's Anthology of 20th Century Native American Poetry  (Harper Collins)
• Ortiz, Simon, From Sand Creek: Rising in This Heart Which is Our America  (University of Arizona Press)
• Rose, Wendy, Bone Dance: New and Selected Poems, 1965-1993  (University of Arizona Press)
• Swann, Brian, ed., Native American Songs and Poems: An Anthology  (Dover)
• Tapahonso, Luci, Blue Horses Rush In: Poems and Stories  (University of Arizona Press)
• Whiteman, Roberta Hill, Star Quilt: Poems  (Holy Cow! Press)
• Young Bear, Ray A., The Invisible Musician: Poems  (Holy Cow! Press)

Short Fiction

• Allen, Paula Gunn, ed., Spider Woman's Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native American Women  (Ballantine / Random House)
• Alexie, Sherman, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven  (Harper Collins)
• Alexie, Sherman, Ten Little Indians  (Grove Press / Publishers Group West)
• Alexie, Sherman, The Toughest Indian in the World  (Grove Press / Publishers Group West)
• Glancy, Diane, Firesticks: A Collection of Stories  (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Lesley, Craig, ed., Talking Leaves: Contemporary Native American Short Stories  (Dell)
• Power, Susan, Roofwalker  (Milkweed / Publishers Group West)
• Silko, Leslie Marmon, Storyteller  (Arcade / Time Warner)
• Rosen, Kenneth, ed., The Man to Send Rain Clouds: Contemporary Stories by American Indians  (Penguin)
• Trafzer, Clifford E., ed., Blue Dawn, Red Earth: New Native American Storytellers  (Doubleday)

General Anthologies

• Harjo, Joy and Gloria Bird, eds., Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native American Women's Writings of North America  (Norton)
• Kilcup, Karen L. ed., Native American Women's Writing, An Anthology (1800-1924)  (Blackwell)
• Purdy, John L. and James Ruppert, eds., Nothing But the Truth: An Anthology of Native American Literature (Prentice Hall)
• Trout, Lawana, ed., Native American Literature: An Anthology  (NTC/Contemporary Publishing / McGraw-Hill)
• Vizenor, Gerald, Native American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology  (Addison Wesley Longman)

History / Culture

• Brown, Dee, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West  (Owl Books / Henry Holt)
• Duncan, Barbara R., Living Stories of the Cherokee  (University of North Carolina Press)
• Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz, eds., American Indian Trickster Tales  (Penguin)
• Josephy, Alvin M., Jr., 500 Nations: An Illustrated History of North American Indians  (Knopf / Random House)
• Lagrand, James B., Indian Metropolis: Native Americans in Chicago, 1945-1975  (University of Illinois Press)
• Nies, Judith, Native American History: A Chronology of a Culture's Vast Achievements and Their Links to World Events  (Ballantine / Random House)
• Perdue, Theda and Michael D. Green, The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents  (St. Martin's Press)
• Perdue, Theda, Sifters: Native American Women's Lives  (Oxford University Press)
• Swann, Brian, ed., Coming to Light: Contemporary Translations of the Native Literatures in North America  (Random House)
• Trafzer, Clifford E., Native Universe: Voices of Indian America  (National Geographic)

Theory / Criticism

• Deloria, Vine Jr., Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Krupat, Arnold, For Those Who Come After: A Study of Native American Autobiography  (University of California Press)
• Owens, Louis, Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel  (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Graulich, Melody, ed., "Yellow Woman": Leslie Marmon Silko  (Rutgers University Press)
• Vizenor, Manifest Manners: Narratives on Postindian Survivance (includes the essays "Ishi Obscura" and  "Casino Coups")  (Wesleyan University Press)