Tribal Theory in Native American Literature

Focusing on Dakota writers and storytellers, Seneca critic Kelsey offers an assessment of theory and interpretation in indigenous literary criticism in the twenty-first century. She delineates a method for formulating a Native-centered theory or, more specifically, a use of tribal languages and their concomitant knowledges to derive a worldview or an equivalent to Western theory that is emic to indigenous worldviews. These theoretical frameworks can then be deployed to create insightful readings of Native American texts. Kelsey demonstrates this approach with a fresh look at early Dakota writers, including Marie McLaughlin, Charles Eastman, and Zitkala-Ša and later storytellers such as Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Ella Deloria, and Philip Red Eagle. Kelsey raises the issue of how Native languages and knowledges were historically excluded from the study of Native American literature and how their encoding in early Native American texts destabilized colonial processes. From publisher description.

Year

2008

Language

English

Publisher

University of Nebraska Press

Editions

5

Pages

284

ISBN

9780803227712

Data source: Wikidata