A Trek Back in Time


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‘Indianness’ and Identity in the Novels and Short Stories of Sherman Alexie

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This essay was presented at the 'Framing the Self: Anxieties of Identity in Literature' conference, sponsored by the Centre of Studies in Literature at the University of Portsmouth, 21st May.  Some of the material included has been adapted from earlier postings. The Quest for Identity The quest for identity is the overriding theme in the work of almost all Native writers. Four centuries of colonisation, during which children, mixed and full-blood, were taken from their homes and ‘civilised’ have scoured away nearly all remnants of traditional Indian identity. Sent to boarding schools such as that in Carlisle, Pennsylvania whose motto was ‘Kill the Indian, Save the man’, these children were no longer permitted to speak their own languages, wear their own clothes, or pray to their own gods. Imperfectly assimilated, they lost their voices and their histories, and found themselves balanced between two opposing worlds: the old world where they no longer fully belonged, and the...
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Gathering historical research on William Clark's Nez Perce son

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During the past year, I have been attempting to gather all available information about William Clark’s supposed Nez Perce son, variously known as Tzi-Kal-Tza, Halahtookit, Al-pa-to-kate, Daytime Smoke(r), and Son of Daytime Smoker. The name I find the most poignant, however, the name that links into my research on personal identity, is the one he is said to have called himself – Clark (Moulton, vol 7, p 241). * The idea for my project started to emerge about ten years ago, when I visited the Nez Perce Historical Museum in my hometown of Lewiston, Idaho. Among the exhibits were collections of artifacts from early white settlers, the Nez Perce tribe, and the Lewis and Clark expedition which passed through the region twice: in September 1805, on their way to the west coast; and in May 1806, on their return journey to St. Louis. As I grew up in Lewiston, I thought I knew the history of the area fairly well, but tucked into a display of beaded gauntlets and stone tools was a piece of i...
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A Detailed Synopsis of James Welch’s Fools Crow

Published in 1986, James Welch’s historical novel, Fools Crow, is considered to be a modern classic within the Native American literary canon. Set in the late 1860s, the novel depicts pivotal events in the history of the Blackfoot Indians, and focuses on the young protagonist, White Man’s Dog (later renamed Fools Crow), as he journeys from adolescence into manhood. The story climaxes with a retelling of the 1870 raid on a Piegan village which became known as the Marias Massacre. Below is a synopsis of the main events depicted in the novel.
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