Description
Book SynopsisRereading Ishiâs Story offers a manifesto of sorts through a critical reading of an anthropological classic, Theodora Kroeberâs 1961 book, Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America.
The heart of the analysis involves a five-play cycle, built around Gerald Vizenorâs trickster-survivance model. It gives Ishi a voice he never had in Kroeberâs book and imagines an Ishi who was not the happy warrior in Kroeberâs book. The author follows the story line in Kroeberâs book, focusing on key events as recounted by Alfred Kroeber and his associates Saxton Pope and Thomas Waterman. Chapter 1 tells Ishiâs story in his own words; Chapter 2 retells Ishiâs capture narrative, which includes the recording of his story of the wood ducks; Chapter 3 builds on stories told about Ishi by Zumwalt Jr.; Chapter 4 criticizes Kroeber and associates for making Ishi return to his homeland, asking him to âplayâ Indian; and Chapter 5 takes up his death and the recovery of
Table of Contents
Part One Chapter 1. You Can Call Me Ishi: The Story of a Trickster Chapter 2. Ishi and the Wood Ducks, Part 2, or Ishi, the Assimilated Indian Chapter 3. Ishi the Happy Warrior in Golden Gate Park Chapter 4. Ishi in the Wilderness: Anatomy of a Life and a Death (1861-1916) Chapter 5. Ishi’s Brain: The Trickster’s Revenge; Part Two Chapter 6. Ishi’s Ethics Chapter 7. Ishi Comes Home
