Native American Literature
History
• America is a land of immigrants
– First Native Americans migrated to NA Continent
20,000-40,000 years ago by crossing the Bering
Strait Land/Ice bridge
– Settled in small tribal communities across
continent
• Literature of Native Americans not recognized
by Western Society as literature until 1800s
when oral traditions were written down for
the first time
Myths and Folktales
• The purpose of myths is to seek to explain or
rationalize one or more aspects of the world or a
society.
• Myths usually have religious or supernatural
elements and have a character that is immortal
• Origin myth—a myth that explains how
something began
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3XoYZgvEH8
Archetypal Myths: Creation Myths
• Many cultures around the world have stories about
creation.
– Judeo-Christian Genesis—Adam and Eve
– Babylonian—Marduk creates the world from spoils of
battle
– Yoruba—The Golden Chain
– Norse Mythology—the first world of Muspell
• Other Common types of Mythological story archetypes
– Hero stories (the quest, overcoming the monster,
voyage/return)
– Rags to Riches stories
--Resurrection/Rebirth
– Trickster stories
--star crossed lovers
Oral Traditions
• The languages of Native American tribes
were never written down before the English
arrived from Europe.
• Their stories were passed verbally from
generation to generation.
Languages of North America
Forgotten Languages
• The population of the native civilizations of the current
territory of the United States fell from about 20 million
to the present level of less than 2 million.
• Beyond the shrinking size of the ethnic populations,
the languages have also suffered due to the prevalence
of English among those of Native American ancestry.
• Most Native American languages have ceased to exist,
or are spoken only by older speakers, with whom the
language will die in the coming decades.
Remaining Speakers
• Only 8 indigenous languages of the area of the continental
United States currently have a population of speakers in the
U.S. and Canada large enough to populate a medium-sized
town. Only Navajo still has a population of greater than
25,000 within the U.S.
Language
Navajo
Cree
Ojibwa
Cherokee
Dakota
Apache
Blackfoot
Choctaw
Family
Athabaskan
Algic
Algic
Iroquoian
Siouan
Athabaskan
Algic
Muskogean
Locations
AZ, NM, UT
MT, Canada
MN, ND, MT, MI, Canada
OK, NC
NE, ND, SD, MN, MT, Canada
NM, AZ, OK
MT, Canada
OK, MS, LA
Speakers
148,530
60,000
51,000
22,500
20,000
15,000
10,000
9,211
Purposes of Native American
Literature
• Native American Literature was not just for
entertainment
• Many of the myths included multiple purposes
– Teach a moral lesson
– To explain the unexplainable
• Creation of humanity
• Seasons
• Stars
– To preserve the history and culture of the
particular tribe
Purposes of Native American
Literature
– Convey a practical message about the world
• When to plant crops
• How to harvest and store crops
– To illustrate the necessity of balance between
humanity and the natural world
• Values the importance of ALL living things
• All plants, animals, and humans are part of the
Great Spirit
• Stresses conservation