The Routledge Companion to Native American Literature
Summary
In this review, the author encourages the reader to appreciate complex relations modes of Native American representation and being. The author describes three sections of the book that cover multiple aspects of Native American Literature. The author briefly mentions important works in the book and discusses the main points of essays and key elements of Native American Literature’s uniqueness and its oral and visual forms.
Publisher
Transitional Literature is an online open-access journal aimed to host international conversations. In the view of Transitional Literature, the national borders are considered to be places of flourishing creativity and new ways of thinking.
Author
An experienced journalist, Laubscher provides an accurate and specific description of the collection of essays and points out important ideas.
Usage of Article
I like to utilize this article by using the statements proposed by the author that Native Americans’ “visual culture and literary aesthetics necessitate a reconceptualization of form and symbolic relationships simultaneously illustrating” (Laubscher, 2).
“The movement from ‘As-Told-To’ style stories to a new genre of writing ‘Indigenous Communal Narratives’” (Laubscher, 3).
“…the potential of these new stories to redress cultural and historic misrepresentations as well as the inclusive possibilities of these multi-voiced, Native-centered forms” (Laubscher, 3).
We Are Still Here: Learning From Native American Perspectives
Summary
The study is aimed to explore the inner experiences, attitudes, and beliefs” of modern Native Americans. The research includes interviews with 14 Native American Participants that described the cultural elements deemed important to participants.
Publisher
The Journal of Counseling & Development publishes practice, theory, and research articles. The perspective of Counseling could be a good point for observation of concerns for Native Americans in modern society.
Author
The study is conducted by representatives of the Counseling Departments of Universities of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas, and North Carolina.
Usage of Article
I want to use the article to emphasize the spirituality and religion of the Native Americans.
“Participants described the Sacred as central to their worldview, consisting of foundational beliefs and communal practices” (Giordano et al., 168).
“…it is important to explore the spiritual identity of Native Americans and consider ways to effectively honor and integrate spirituality. (Giordano et al., 168).
“Participants identified maintaining their Native language as an important strength of their culture” (Giordano et al., 168).
Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father
Summary
The biography explores the faith of Benjamin Franklin and the religious topics of deism. As the author explains, Franklin’s beliefs were influenced by deist writers.
Publisher
Yale University Press publishes works that contribute to the understanding of human affairs. The core purpose of the publisher lies in the exploration of light and truth. The publications are later used in the further education of students.
Author
Thomas S. Kidd is a professor of history and associate director of the Institute of Studies of Religion at Baylor University. The author offers a comprehensive account of the religious aspect of various historical events and persons.
Usage of Article
I want to use Franklin’s opinion and perspective on Native Americans, thoroughly described in the book. The author states that Franklin found Indians “exotic and menacing” (Kidd, 178). The author describes the fragment of Franklin’s reflections on Native Americans and the alcohol issues they faced.
“One “Orator acknowledged the fault, but laid it upon the rum; and then endeavored to excuse the rum, by saying, ‘The Great Spirit who made everything for some use, and whatever use he designed anything for, that users should always be put to; Now, when he made the rum, he said, let this be for Indians to get drunk with. And it must be so.’” (Kidd,179).
“If it is the design of Providence to extirpate these savages in order to make room for cultivators of the earth, it seems not improbable that rum may be the appointed means.” (Kidd,179)
‘Indians’: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History
Summary
The essay states the author’s opinion on the relationship between non-Indians and the people who first populated the continent. The author points out differences the point of view makes in the historical accounts of events. The author illustrates the opinion with arguments from a wide selection of works from other authors that contribute to the question of point of view in the historical life of Native Americans.
Publisher
Critical Inquiry Is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to the best critical opinions and thought on the arts and humanities. The journal is considered to be one of the most influential and prestigious journals in the world.
Author
Jane Tompkins is an English professor at Duke University. Tomkins’ works center around the idea of male identity in American popular culture.
Usage of Article
I want to use the article to add to the historical aspect of the theme. The author emphasizes cases of how Indians were perceived by white people of other cultures and nations. The article also provides evidence of how different the arguments that protect the Native Americans are compared to those that accuse the Indians.
“The hunt, according to Martin, was conceived not primarily as a physical activity but as a spiritual quest, in which the spirit of the hunter must overmaster the spirit of the game animal before the kill can take place” (Tompkins, 108).
“Their relationship to the animals they hunted, to the natural environment, and to the whites with whom they traded became intelligible within a system of beliefs that formed the basis for an entirely new perspective” (Tompkins, 108).
“It would be unreasonable to expect such societies could live side by side indefinitely with no penetration of the more fragmented and passive by the more consolidated and active” (Tompkins, 106).
References
Giordano, Prosek, et al. (2020). “We Are Still Here: Learning From Native American Perspectives.” Journal of Counseling & Development, vol. 98, no. 2, pp. 159–171.
Kidd, Thomas. Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father. Yale University Press, 2017.
Laubscher, Emma. Review of The Routledge Companion to Native American Literature, edited by Deborah L. Madsen. Transnational Literature, vol.9 no. 2, 2017. Web.
Tompkins, Jane. “‘Indians’: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 13, no. 1, 1986, pp. 101–119. JSTOR. Web.