Native American storytelling has become a very vital issue in education. It preserves Native American history for the next generation and teaches them important lessons about the Native American culture. It also conveys moral meanings, knowledge and social values of the Native American people to the universe. More importantly, Native American…

In this article the author starts from the premise that, although there were no renowned Indian poets at Carlisle and other Indian boarding schools in the United States, students in federal boarding schools read and wrote poetry. She argues that the rhetorically bold Carlisle poems--along with the letters and articles published in the Carlisle…

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, a former English teacher and school counselor, is an award-winning author, best known for her children's books about the Rosebud Sioux life and culture, which combines history and legend to create culturally rich and authentic Native American stories. In this article, the authors share their conversations with Virginia…

Twenty-first-century skeptics would say that there are really no such things as beauty and truth and certainly not goodness. A Pueblo poet seemed to think there was--"the corn people have a song / it is very good"--and unless people think they know better, they'd better listen up. This article begins with a short piece, set down by the…

The Native American's daily life was a walk with supernatural happenings, directed by the power of the Great Spirit. An important experience for a young man was the vision-search. Fortunate youths had a personal encounter with the Great Spirit and received evidence of a special ally or spirit-brother. At the same time, the individual might receive…

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…

Reviews a volume of 21 interviews with American Indian poets focusing on the issues of the new role of women in Native American poetry; the tension of two cultures, particularly for half-breeds; and cultural, national, and personal survival. The book includes a poem by each poet, with commentaries. (SV)

The different ways in which two American Indian poets, Paula Gunn Allen and Joy Harjo, realize the fusion of the individual, the Southwest landscape, and a sensibility about the nature of existence in a realm called "mythic space" is clarified by showing how each approaches the concept of the moon. (SB)

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)

This publication contains 17 poems that portray experiences of the Native American poet. American Indian images and symbols are combined in these poems: (1) "Grace"; (2) "Bowl With Splatter-Painted Hand"; (3) "Turtle"; (4) "Poem for a Newborn Niece"; (5) "Willowemoc"; (6) "The Vision-Hunter Dies in the Rain"; (7) "At the Top of the Fire Tower in…

Describes the emergence of Native American writers and the problems they face with their achievement. Apendixes list publishers of native American poetry and contemporary poets. (CRH)

The author of this article provides a critical assessment of Simon J. Ortiz's collection of poetry, "Out There Somewhere," to see how this literature of resistance continues through cultural connections. The resistance one finds in the poems--against mainstream political, social, and economic forces--results in continuance of Ortiz's…

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)

Luci Tapahonso, Navajo poet and storyteller, discusses the influences on her work: the environment and landscape of the Southwest, Navajo spiritual and family values, and the equal status of women in Navajo society. (SV)

Presented are a wide variety of current and older titles that teachers and students can use to better understand Native Americans. The following are included in the bibliography: planning aids, music, poetry, art, and fiction. (KC)