Sister Nations: Native American Women Writers on Community

by Heid E. Erdrich (Editor), Laura Tohe (Editor), Winona LaDuke (Foreword by)

Overview

This anthology of fiction, prose, and poetry celebrates the rich diversity of writing by Native American women today. Editors Heid E. Erdrich and Laura Tohe have gathered stories from across the nation that celebrate, record, and explore Native American women's roles in community. The result is a rich tapestry that contains work by established writers along with emerging and first-time authors. Contributors include Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Diane Glancy, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Allison Hedge Coke, LeAnne Howe, Roberta Hill, Kim Blaeser, Linda LeGarde Grover, with a foreword by Winona LaDuke.

The writings included range from the personal to the political, from notions of romantic love to the realities of marriage, from finding a place in modern society to incorporating tradition in daily life. Whether it's Louise Erdrich's heartbreaking story "The Shawl," Diane Glancy's tightly distilled poems, or Joy Harjo's elegant and fanciful "How to Get to Planet Venus," all of these works explore both what it means to be a woman and how those realities are complicated by the Native American experience.

The editors have divided these lively and thought-provoking pieces into four sections: "Changing Women," which deals with the stages of a woman's life, awareness of female ancestors, and women's traditions of healing and making art; "Strong Hearts," which shows Indian women enduring with love, defending with fierce judgment, and reaching out across history to protect the people; "New Age Pocahontas," which reveals the humor and complexity of stereotypes and simplified images of Native American women; and "In the Arms of the Skies," which explores the ways in which typical notions about romantic love and marriage are put to the test.

Sister Nations also includes full biographies of all the contributors, commentary from many of the authors on their work, and a bibliography of relevant publications.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780873514286
Publisher:	Minnesota Historical Society Press
Publication date:	04/01/2002
Series:	Native Voices
Pages:	252
Sales rank:	1,091,687
Product dimensions:	5.63(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Laura Tohe was born and raised on the Navajo reservation. Her book No Parole Today received the Poetry of the Year Award from the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. She is an associate professor of English at Arizona State University.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	xi
	Introduction	xiii
	Acknowledgments	xx
1	Changing Women	3
	Sleepwalker	5
	First Woman	8
	Shadow Sisters	10
	A Woman's Old Age	14
	Piece Quilt: An Autobiography	15
	Welcome to the Land of Ma'am	23
	Picking Indian Tea	26
	Craving: First Month	28
	She Dances	29
	In the Fields	30
	Choctalking on Other Realities	35
	Stitch upon Stitch	50
	Sipping	51
	One at a Time	54
	Term	57
	Limp Strings	59
	Red Hawk Woman	61
	Vicks	63
2	Strong Hearts	65
	A Cousin from California Shows Up at My House, the First Time in Thirty Years	67
	Doe Season	68
	The Shawl	70
	Anna Ghostdancer	78
	Conjure	79
	Long Division	80
	Chi-Ko-ko-koho and the Boarding School Prefect	82
	Mother's Love	84
	Tough Audience	96
	Brother's Passing	97
	Close to Bone	99
	In Dinetah	100
	In Memory of Shame	105
3	New Age Pocahontas	107
	Her Pocahontas	110
	Butter Maiden and Maize Girl Survive Death Leap	112
	Fleur-de-Lis	114
	Untitled	121
	Miracle	122
	Ikwe Ishpiming	133
	To the Woman Who Just Bought a Set of Native American Spirituality Dream Interpretation Cards	134
	Grandmother, Salish Mathematician	136
	Escape from the Rez on a Saturday Night	137
	What's an indian woman to do?	138
	The Frybread Queen	140
	Love is Blind	142
	Not Indian Enough	143
	Alina in Kansas	145
	After powwow	147
4	In the Arms of the Skies	151
	The one who got away	153
	Emergence	154
	Smile	159
	The Great Spirit's Wife	160
	The Abandoned Wife Gives Herself to the Lord	161
	How to Get to the Planet Venus	162
	Coyote Meets His Match	177
	Husbands	178
	Elegy for Bobby	179
	The Power of Crushed Leaves	181
	My Books & Your White Women	183
	Is It Too Much to Ask?	184
	The Big Rectangle	186
	Tsoodzia, Mountain to the South	187
	Ashkii Nizhoni	189
	The way around losing you	195
	Contributors	197
	Information on Tribes	219
	Notes	226

Editorial Reviews

In the Dakota tongue Minnetonka means "big waters," and there's no doubt that Minnesota's largest lake lives up to its name. From its early days as an Native American outpost and local fishing hideaway, to its 1880s grand hotel heydays, to its recent, heartwarming renaissance, Minnetonka brims with history. For this wondrous pictorial tribute, Wayzata resident James W. Ogland has utilized daguerreotypes, cartes de visite, stereoviews, view cards, and postcards (including some hand-tinted beauties.) One early travel manual boasted that "The long luxurious porches with their easy chairs and entrancing views cast a Circes' spell over time." Now time returns the favor.

bn.com

In this anthology, 49 women share their experiences as Native Americans through poetry, essays, and short fiction. Divided into four sections "Changing Women," "Strong Hearts," "New Age Pocahontas," and "In the Arms of the Skies" the selections focus on the centrality of the Native experience. Writers including Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, and Roberta Hill tell of harsh mothers, gentle mothers, drunken fathers, strong fathers, and children growing up in a white world. The range of the collection is represented by the titles "First Woman," "Shadow Sisters," "Piece Quilt: An Autobiography," "Red Hawk Woman," "Grandmother, Salish Mathematician," and "The Frybread Queen," among others. The end material includes brief biographies of each contributor and information about the tribes they represent. These are strong, well-written stories of very real experiences and emotions. Recommended for all types of libraries. Sue Samson, Univ. of Montana Lib., Missoula Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Although including some fiction and a few essays, the majority of this collection presents poetry. All of the contributions are written by Native American women and in some way reflect on the relations of women to their community. The writings reflect on transformation in the female experience, the theme of inner strength, reactions to stereotypes and simplified images, or love and sex. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews