Description
Book SynopsisStudies the stirring literature of "Red Power," an era of Native American organizing that began in 1969 and expanded into the 1970s. This title shows instead that the movement engaged historical memory and oral tradition to produce more enabling knowledge of American Indian lives and possibilities.
Trade Review“
Red Land, Red Power is an exciting and important book. . . . It is an important book for students invested in how the written word and real-world politics connect, including those in Native studies, (anti-)colonial studies, postcolonial studies, third-world studies, and ecocriticism.
Red Land, Red Power also celebrates just how much literature and literary studies can do in understanding and resisting colonization—in the book, in the classroom, and in material places where marginalized voices are still trying to be heard.” - Melinda DiStefano,
Contemporary Literature“Teuton has a keen ability to convey how tribal relationships that are based in kinship and that have endured long histories of colonial confrontations with the United States are essential to understanding these novels’ characters and dramatic tensions.” - Kendall Johnson,
American Literature“[Teuton’s] work is a powerful text that debunks old myths and creates a framework for seeing the world for what it is.
Red Land, Red Power is a must-read.” -
Lee Maracle,
Times Higher Education Supplement“Informative from the start, [Teuton] interrogates essentialist critiques of Native literary culture by Native intellectuals, problematizes trickster critical discourse, and parries the vocabulary of Native studies while acknowledging how Indians have transformed English, achieving pantribal meanings manifest in prose. . . . Philosophically challenging yet reader friendly, this book is a must read. Essential.” -
R. Welburn,
Choice“His interpretive work will be particularly valuable to historians considering the use of these red power novels, because his approach is carefully grounded in historical context and deeply informed by prior criticism. . . . Teuton offers tangible evidence of not only red power, but also the power of literary language in the indigenous struggle with a legacy of colonialism that remains visible throughout Indian country.” -
Michael A. Elliot,
The Journal of American History“
Red Land, Red Power is a terrific book. Sean Kicummah Teuton offers a critique and reconstruction of current theoretical discussions in literary studies about identity and experience as they affect the reception and production of Native literature. He argues for a ‘tribal realist’ approach as the critical framework that allows for a sophisticated, nuanced, and empowering analysis of American Indian literature.”—
Paula Moya, author of
Learning from Experience: Minority Identities, Multicultural Struggles“Sean Kicummah Teuton offers a powerful vision of American Indian literary studies and its dialogue with contemporary literary criticism. He understands how to connect theoretical discussion to the practical politics of Indian culture and literature. Every scholar in the field will want to read this book.”—
Robert Dale Parker, author of
The Invention of Native American Literature“
Red Land, Red Power is an exciting and important book. . . . It is an important book for students invested in how the written word and real-world politics connect, including those in Native studies, (anti-)colonial studies, postcolonial studies, third-world studies, and ecocriticism.
Red Land, Red Power also celebrates just how much literature and literary studies can do in understanding and resisting colonization—in the book, in the classroom, and in material places where marginalized voices are still trying to be heard.” -- Melinda DiStefano * Contemporary Literature *
“[Teuton’s] work is a powerful text that debunks old myths and creates a framework for seeing the world for what it is.
Red Land, Red Power is a must-read.” -- Lee Maracle * Times Higher Education *
“His interpretive work will be particularly valuable to historians considering the use of these red power novels, because his approach is carefully grounded in historical context and deeply informed by prior criticism. . . . Teuton offers tangible evidence of not only red power, but also the power of literary language in the indigenous struggle with a legacy of colonialism that remains visible throughout Indian country.” -- Michael A. Elliot * Journal of American History *
“Informative from the start, [Teuton] interrogates essentialist critiques of Native literary culture by Native intellectuals, problematizes trickster critical discourse, and parries the vocabulary of Native studies while acknowledging how Indians have transformed English, achieving pantribal meanings manifest in prose. . . . Philosophically challenging yet reader friendly, this book is a must read. Essential.” -- R. Welburn * Choice *
“Teuton has a keen ability to convey how tribal relationships that are based in kinship and that have endured long histories of colonial confrontations with the United States are essential to understanding these novels’ characters and dramatic tensions.” -- Kendall Johnson * American Literature *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi
Preface xiii
Introduction: Imagining an American Indian Center 1
Part I. Red Land
1. Embodying Lands: Somatic Place in N. Scott Momaday's
House Made of Dawn 43
2. Placing the Ancestors: Historical Identity in James Welch's
Winter in the Blood 79
Part II. Red Power
3. Learning to Feel: Tribal Experience in Leslie Marmon Silko's
` 119
4. Hearing the Callout: American Indian Political Criticism 157
Conclusion: Building Cultural Knowledge in the Contemporary Native Novel 197
Notes 235
Bibliography 257
Index 281
