Changing Women: The Cross-Currents of American Indian Feminine Identity

Abstract

Introduction\nThe Blanket Around Her\nMaybe it is her birth\nwhich she holds close to herself\nor her death\nwhich is just as inseparable\nand the white wind\nthat encircles her is a part\njust as\nthe blue sky\nhanging in turquoise from her neck\noh woman\nremember who you are\nwoman\nit is the whole earth\n-Jot Harjo\nLaguna novelist Leslie Silko begins Ceremony with one word-"Sunrise." The word is simple, yet it encompasses an entire body of culture and thought which revolves around the concepts of birth, regeneration, cyclicity and the union of masculine and feminine elements. Many American Indian world views speak of balanced "opposite" forces which combine as a dynamic whole to form the universe. One may extend the metaphor of ”sunrise” further in reference to the contemporary “rebirth” of American Indian cultures, perhaps best illustrated in the growing body of literature by American Indian writers. Kenneth Lincoln makes such an analogy in his comprehensive analysis of American Indian literature, Native American Renaissance. Interestingly, Lincoln correlates the dynamics of this movement to gender as he writes, ”Native Americans are writing prolifically, particularly the women, who correlate feminist, nativist, and artistic commitments in a compelling rebirth.”