On the one hand there is a natural convergence between the Native American and African-American experience, because in both instances a distinctly white, European culture and history have dictated the scope and content of that experience through colonial domination even as both Native American and African-American subjectivities are informed by histories that extend back well beyond the colonization of America. This is arguably the most obvious cultural relationship in the novel, because there are simply obvious "similarities between the social and economic conditions of African-Americans and American Indians" (Andrews 137)
Specifically, the novel details how Johnson "strolled to the crossroads near the softball diamond, with its solitary grave hidden in deep center field" (Alexie 3). This line is important for the novel's treatment of location and setting because Johnson himself is famous in American folklore for having sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in the South, supposedly in return for his seemingly supernatural guitar ability (Ford 198)
That the novel presents the crossroads of Wellpinit as a potentially hopeful point in space that offer a chance at redemption instead of damnation is important, because for the most part, life on the reservation is neither hopeful nor redemptive. The space of the reservation is a space where "death, alcohol, poverty, book-burning, and child abuse find their place," and everyday life is not conducive to hope or the possibility of change due to the centuries-long legacy of colonialism (Meredith 446; Evans 52)
As a result, an analysis of the novel's use of the blues in its depiction of a contemporary Native American experience means looking at the way these cross-linked cultural and historical relationships are rendered and explored. These categories are helpfully elucidated in the essay "The Cycle of Removal and Return: A Symbolic Geography of Indigenous Literature," which talks about "the Symbolic Reservation" in the same sense as "the Symbolic South and the Symbolic North" (Teuton 48)
Through an examination of the contradictory treatment of Native Americans and American settlers regarding these rights, it can easily be noted that that Native Americans were denied rights of which the American Settlers took advantage. When the American settlers declared their independence from England, they stated that each person was endowed with "certain unalienable rights," including life (Jefferson, 1776, para
The diseases, then, led to the loss of life among Native American communities. Scholars have differed in their classification of such diseases, some calling them localized outbreaks that decimated certain populations, while others argue that they were pandemics, spreading across populations (Ramenofsky, Wilbur, and Stone, 2003, pp
For those with IGT at baseline, significant predictors included fasting plasma glucose, 2-h glucose, BMI, degree of American Indian blood, and albuminuria." (Lee et al
Many previous authors have advocated that traditional mental health treatments be modified to better match clients' cultural contexts." (Griner & Smith, p
Bad diseases, like diabetes and hypertension, quickly followed, almost like an epidemic shadow." (Huber, p
However, he does draw one conclusion from the historical studies that he overviewed with which I cannot agree. He describes that Native American population as having incredible adaptability and perseverance (Edmunds, p
Relocation programs have taken hundreds of Indians to work in cities; thousands of others cling to the security of their reservations, hoping to gain education and assistance necessary to develop the resources of their lands and become self-sustaining" (American Indian Council). Moreover, since Native Americans have been self-determining populations since 1975, these results simply do not support the idea of a resilient community as described by Edmunds (Oberg, p
This fact implies an uncomfortable truth: both property rights and political power in the United States are associated with a system of racial caste. (Singer 4) The constant struggles for Indian sovereignty against the United States government came to a forefront in 1973 at the infamous standoff at Wounded Knee
All of these are incorporated into the fundamental ideas of strong kinship values and family ties from Confucianism." (Beller, Pinker, Snapka, Van Dusen)
Allen, "the U.S. minister to the court of King Kojong" (Young-sik, 2003)
Board of Education ended the imposition of colonial attitudes in education by freeing tribal governments to establish their own schools and colleges. In the 1960s, the BIA began the Indian Relocation Program designed to encourage Native Americans to move from reservations to urban areas (Bell and Lim, 2005, p
Spain would gain an overland route into California and the Quechans a powerful military ally. The Quechans were not unified in wanting the Spanish to settle among them; however, the chief of the Quechans, who was named Salvadore Palma by the Spanish, saw considerable benefit to inviting the Spaniards to live among them (Guerrero, Winter 2010-2011, p
Reeducation of Native Americans An important tool for attempting to replace Native Americans values and beliefs with those of the dominant society has been the imposition of an education system. Native Americans believed in supernatural forces, viewed land as communal property, and held nature in high regard (Oliver, 1996, p
I will argue that the colonial attitudes that first invaded North America over 400 years ago continue to influence how mainstream American society views Native Americans, and vice versa. A Case Study of Early Cultural Conflict Spanish immigration into California would have benefitted greatly through the development of an overland route that crossed what was then a major river, the Colorado, because supplying settlements by sea was untenable at the time (Santiago, 1998, p
For this reason, only 17% of Native American students seek a college education and of these, only 25% finish. Yet, many Native American elders place a high premium on successful completion of a primary and secondary education (Steinhauer, 1998)
The long-term effect of this trend is aggravating the already disproportionate number of Native Americans under the control of the corrections system. For the few Native American students who pursue the American dream of college and career, they continue to face social alienation, indifferent faculty, isolation, racism, and an irrelevant curriculum (vanLent, 1999, p