2. Oral literatures
Native Americans carefully trained their memories to record and transmit vast bodies of knowledge verbatim because, in an oral society, the known universe always stood only one generation from loss. ‘Oral literatures’ explains that indigenous tales instruct in ethics, ecology, religion, or governance, and record ancient migrations, catastrophes, battles, and heroism. Oral literatures grow from differing landscapes and forms of life, and still form the basis of modern Native American writing. Despite their differences, oral literatures usually communicate a wish to live intimately with a unique ancestral land and its creatures, a commitment to a proper relationship with that land and its broad community, and a belief in the power of story to achieve this accordance.