By Keith Cunningham
Trade Paper Back
ISBN: 0-87483-202-0
Zeitgenössische Gespräche mit Cherokee, Sioux, Hopi, Osage, Navajo, Zuni und Mitgliedern von anderem Nations
The spotlight on native American culture is currently more intense than it has been in two decades. Universities offer related studies, magazines devote color splashes to the subject, and films such as Dances with Wolves attract viewers in droves. Yet there are still major gaps in our understanding of the American Indian, and stereotypes abound.
Keith Cunningham shifts the focus of Indian culture from formal tribal ceremonies and traditions to the informal, conversational world of the modern American Indian.Through five years of literally sitting at the kitchen tables of members of various tribal nations, Cunningham and his wife, Kathy, came to know a people more diverse, complex, and accommodating than the stoic, rustic Indian displayed in popular myth. The inhabitants of this world watch movies on the home VCR, wear imprinted T-shirts and scour magazines for recipes. But they also wear arrowheads for protection from witchcraft, participate in ceremonial dances, and practice medicine through bone pressing and herbal remedies.
More than 200 narratives from contemporary American Indian storytellers portray a people open to new ideas and technology, blessed with a healthy sense of humor, and able to live among and communicate with the Anglo world around them while retaining tribal identities and awareness. The power of these conversations comes from their simplicity and directness.
But there is another story here. While listening to American Indians tell their stories, Cunningham found his own life story oddly affected. When he became disabled following back surgery only to be persuaded by Helen, one of his Zuni informants, to undergo a bone-pressing treatment by a local medicine man, it was clear that she was willing to share more with him than stories. The story of the Cunninghams' healing and revelations is a moving and unforgettable one. Through their eyes, the reader participates in discovering and experiencing the art and power of stories.
Includes collection notes and motif references.
About the author:
KEITH CUNNINGHAM, a professor of English at Northern Arizona University, holds a Ph.D. in Folklore from Indiana University. His studies of the culture of the American West have been frequently published in professional journals and books in England and the U.S. He has presided over the Rocky Mountain Folklife Caucus of the American Folklore Society, and currently is the Corresponding Secretary for the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research. He previously authored The Oral Tradition of the American West.
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