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American Literature
Native American Oral Traditions
 
I.                   Orature, or Oral Literature
1.      What was “discovered” by Columbus?
Columbus called the indigenous people he encountered on his arrival in the New World “Indians,” but it is a big misnomer because Columbus thought he was in India. Aside from the geographical mistake, the name suggests a nonexistent common identity among the native peoples who were in fact characterized by a multiplicity of cultures and languages. To this day, Native Americans identify themselves more readily with their tribe (such as Blackfeet, Cherokee, Turtle Mountain Band Chippewa etc.) than with the generic term “Indians” (Querry 1-2).
 
2.      Oral and communal texts
The first American Indian written language appeared in 1821 when Sequoyah, a warrior and silversmith, created a set of written alphabet for the Cherokee people. Prior to 1821, as in all pre-literate cultures, Native Americans practiced oral literature, or ‘orature', which consisted of chants, songs, and spoken narrative that relied heavily on the intricate designs of rhythm, tempo, and vocal expressions. The literary values of these oral “performable texts” are often neglected or unduly considered inferior in cultures that prioritize written languages (Querry 1; Baym 4-5).
 
3.      A rich literary heritage
The Native American oral literature has a long history. As Ron Querry points out, “the continent of North America already had a 28,000-year history of storytelling” before American colonists started their literary endeavors (1). More importantly, it is a rich heritage from which contemporary Native American authors continue to draw inspiration and on which their identity is founded.
 
II.                Major Verbal Genres
Stories: creation, people's origins and migrations, mythic heroes, tricksters
Songs or poetry: dreams, vision, healing, rituals, ceremonies
Chants: naming, grievance
Jokes, riddles, proverbs, etc.
 
III.             A Missing Legacy
Instead of speculating on the “Indian origins” of American Literature, Jarold Ramsey suggests that we “inquire why, after four centuries of contact, America's first traditional literatures have had so little influence” on American literary heritage (53). He argues that the key to the enigma might lie in “the Anglo-American imperviousness to the literary traditions of other ethnic groups” such as those of black Americans, not to mention those of Native Americans (53).
 
Granted that native cultures leave indelible imprints in American literature, they are often reduced to stereotypes. Scarcely has effort been made to assimilate their literary achievements as well; the failure to engage the Native repertories is an irreversible fact in American literary history up to the mid-twentieth century (Ramsey 55).[i] Native literature needs to be recognized as one of the essential categories of American literature.
 
References
Baym, Nina et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter 7th ed. New York: Norton, 2008.
Hooker, Richard. “Native American Literature.” http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/NAANTH/NAANTH.HTM
Querry, Ron. “Discoveries of America: Stories Told by Indian Voices.” American Diversity, American Identity. Ed. John K. Roth. New York: Henry Holt, 1995. 1-3.
Ramsey, Jarold. “Thoreau's Last Words—and America's First Literatures.” Redefining American Literary History. Eds. A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff and Jerry W. Ward, Jr. New York: MLA of America, 1990.
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 1: Early American Literature to1700 - Native American Oral Literatures." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. http://www.paulreuben.website/pal/chap1/native.html
VanSpanckeren, Kathryn. “Early American and Colonial Period to 1776: Introduction.” An Outline of American Literature. http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/LIT/ch1_p1.htm
 

 
[i] Perhaps due to the neglect, before N. Scott Momaday published the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn in 1968, there were only nine published novels by six American Indian authors (Querry 1-2).
 
 
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