Discusses academic arguments over definitions of "trickster," who intrinsically disrupts classifications of any kind. Focuses on trickster's reemergence (particularly as female) in contemporary native American literature, which merges verbal art and tribal traditions with Anglo text forms to create a liminal literary space ideal for…

Traces the development of Native American literatures as following a pattern of cultural revitalization. Examines how these literatures are being incorporated into the national literary canon and subjected to institutionalized domination at the same time that they are serving as a vehicle for indigenous political resistance and revitalization. (SV)

Examines apparent aberrations in the visual structure of the story-poems in Leslie Silko's "Ceremony." Suggests that the poems' texts act as skeletons for a series of illustrations that reflect the texts' content and provide the final ingredient necessary for "Ceremony" to become a ceremony--the invisible spirit helpers. (SV)

Discusses the Native American literary renaissance that began in 1968, and introduces a survey of 175 books published since then by American Indians and Eskimos. Clarifies usage of "American Indian,""American Indian literature," and "Native American." Examines literary criticism of contemporary Native American…

The literature of the Native Peoples of North America is gaining interest with an increasing number of persons; however, recent articles fail to view this literature holistically and within a realistic cultural, historical, and social context. A history of Native American literature and the impact of colonialism is included. (JMM)

A college teacher discusses his experiences of departing from the established literary canon to teach Sherman Alexie's "Reservation Blues" as part of an upper-level American literature survey class. Students reacted to the novel and its characters, evaluated Alexie's writing techniques, and discussed their personal experiences with Native…

In the new order of academic worlds, marked by multiculturalism, postmodernism, and the interdiscipline of cultural studies, American Indian studies offers an alternative to Eurocentric domination of 21st-century scholarship if, and only if, it does not become encircled by the benevolent imperialism of neocolonial versions of multiculturalism.…

Reviews four autobiographical texts by Native American women: "Talking Indian: Reflections on Survival and Writing" (Anna Lee Walters), "Storyteller" (Leslie Marmon Silko), "The Ways of My Grandmothers" (Beverly Hungry Wolf), and "Saanii Dahataal/The Women Are Singing" (Lucy Tapahonso). All rework the…

Examines works by Deloria, Mathews, Forbes, Allen, and Vizenor concerning how American Indians can face challenges of asserting sovereignty and the place of traditional culture in the struggle. Argues that Indian intellectuals should pursue critical analysis of the dominant society and understanding of the Indian experience in wider contexts. (SV)

The emergence of the Native voice in academia has provided much outstanding scholarship rising out of analysis of oral histories and textual authority of Native peoples. In the 1990s, however, attempts to discredit Native scholarship included the claim that "I, Rigoberta Menchu" was a willful fraud, debates over the Bering Strait theory…

Traces the evolution of American Indian studies programs at universities since the 1960s. Counters criticisms of methodology and intellectual legitimacy, arguing that such programs are pioneering intercultural education, contributing to the U.S. national literary canon, and defending the distinctiveness and diversity of Indian cultures and people.…

For Native American students, Silko's novel "Ceremony" offers a framework for beginning the process of decolonization of the mind, in which instances of internalization of negative stereotypes are identified and issues of colonization are traced to their source and named. The role of language in perpetuating internalized colonialism and…

A mixed-blood Mohawk urban Indian and university librarian, Lisa Mitten provides access to Web sites with solid information about American Indians. Links are provided to 10 categories--Native nations, Native organizations, Indian education, Native media, powwows and festivals, Indian music, Native arts, Native businesses, and Indian-oriented home…

Reflects on the Lakota myth of the winds from a psychological-sociological point of view with the purpose of destroying several false myths relating to children and family dynamics. Recounts the myth and relates it to Alfred Adler's views of the family constellation and birth order as a basis for personality determination. (RAH)

The Native American Authors Internet Library, hosted by the Internet Public Library (an award-winning site maintained by the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), presents five administrative and reference sections with numerous links, and three browsers covering 400 authors, 700 titles, and 200 tribes. Authenticity, accountability, credibility,…