American Indian Studies

Find author biographies, synopses and analyses of major works, and descriptions of concepts, themes, genres, and movements important to American Indian literature.

Look here for criticism and analysis of the depiction of American Indians in children's literature, including cultural authenticity and historical accuracy. This work reviews hundreds of individual books.

North American indigenous literature began over thirty thousand years ago when indigenous people began telling stories of emergence and creation, journey and quest, and heroism and trickery. By setting indigenous literature in historical moments, Sean Teuton skillfully traces its evolution from the ancient role of bringing rain and healing the body, to its later purpose in resisting European invasion and colonization, into its current place as a world literature that confronts dominance while celebrating the imagination and resilience of indigenous lives.

Native American literature has always been uniquely embattled. It is marked by divergent opinions about what constitutes authenticity, sovereignty, and even literature.  It announces a culture beset by paradox: simultaneously primordial and postmodern; oral and inscribed; outmoded and novel.

Covering ethnic literature broadly, this set includes authors, works, genres, and stereotypes associated with particular groups. See the entries for Native American Literature in v. 1, p. xxxv.