Description
Book SynopsisFocusing on Dakota writers and storytellers, Seneca critic Penelope Myrtle Kelsey offers a penetrating assessment of theory and interpretation in indigenous literary criticism in the twenty-first century. Kelsey delineates a method for formulating a Native-centred theory to derive a worldview or an equivalent to Western theory that is emic to indigenous worldviews.
Trade Review"Well positioned within current scholarship on Native American literatures, this study offers a much-needed view of how, and why, Native American literary studies need to progress."—C. L. Sheffield,
CHOICE"Kelsey's analyses are insightful and intelligent, and her familiarity with Dakota language and culture provides a significant and very helpful grounding for her readings of the texts."—Lucy Maddox,
Studies in American Indian Literatures“Well-written and exceptionally thoughtful, Penelope Kelsey’s theoretical framework does for Dakota literature what still needs to be done for most Native American literatures. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in Cultural or Native American Studies. Although intelligent and well-researched, it never sinks into jargon or convolution; rather it speaks about specific Dakota literature and speaks about it well.”—W. S. Penn, author of
Killing Time with Strangers and
All My Sins Are Relatives“How can we argue against Indigenous erasure and invisibility when we accept our colonization by our behavior? Be thankful Kelsey’s Tribal Theory in Native American Literature asks us to take up the challenge and task on behalf of Indigenous land, culture, and community!”—Simon J. Ortiz, author of
Out There Somewhere and
Woven Stone“
Tribal Theory is a necessary work, which etches out a roadmap to a literary critical practice, independent of Eurocentric landmarks. Here, as in the tradition of the Dakota, Kelsey serves as “culture bearer” in the face of academic assimilation. The work is a significant gesture within the grand movement toward intellectual sovereignty upon which the survival of our pueblos depends.”—Cherríe L. Moraga, author of
Loving in the Wars and
The Last Generation"In
Tribal Theory in Native American Literature Penelope Kelsey takes a significant new step in the criticism of Native American writing. Focusing on writers in the Dakota tradition such as Zitkala-Ša and Charles Eastman, Professor Kelsey shows with verve and skill, and a keen sense of continuity and change, the importance of mastering specific tribal systems of knowledge in interpretation of the works of native writers. Her particular readings are original and rich with brilliant new revelations of literary uses of cultural tradition."—Alan Trachtenberg, emeritus professor of American studies, Yale University, and author of
Shades of Hiawatha: Staging Indians, Making Americans in the Early 20th CenturyTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Author's Note
Introduction: Indigenous Knowledge as Tribal Theory
1. Pictographs and Politics in Marie McLaughlin's Myths and Legends of the Sioux: A Dakota Storyteller in the Oza Tradition
2. Charles Eastman's Role in Native American Resistance Literature: A "Real Indian" to the Boy Scouts
3. Zitkala a, Sentiment, and Tiopaye: Reading Dakota Rhetorics of Nation and Gender
4. Ella Deloria's Decolonizing Role as Camp Historian in Waterlily: Sisters, Brothers, and the Hakata Relationship
5. A Gendered Future: Wi and Hawi in Contemporary Dakota Writing 6. Tribal Theory Travels: Kanien'kehaka Poet Maurice Kenny and the Gantowisas
Notes
Bibliography
Index
