scholarly journals The Native American dream in Sherman Alexie's short story “One Good Man”

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 33-45
Author(s):  
María Laura Arce Álvarez

The purpose of this article is to discuss the idea of an Indian identity and the Native American Dream in Sherman Alexie’s short story “One Good Man.” In this story, Alexie introduces the idea of the Indian constructed by the White Americans and attempts through his characters to redefine that concept by deconstructing all the different stereotypes created by the White American society. In order to do this, he also introduces the idea of the American Dream that he calls the “Native American Dream” to express the social inequality and hopeless existence of the Indian community always immersed in an ironic and comic discourse. In this sense, Alexie proposes a new definition of the Indian identity looking back to culture, tradition and the space of the reservation. He creates in his fiction a space of contestation and resistance opening a new voice for the Native American identity. 

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Shofi Mahmudah Budi Utami

This study aims at revealing how the discursive practices and the discourse on alcoholism in the Native Americans is produced and contested in a short story entitled The Reckoning by Joy Harjo. The problem in this study is approached by Foucauldian concept of discourse production procedure. The method applied here is the Foucauldian discourse analysis by examining the problem through the process of formation including external and internal exclusion. Central to the analysis is that alcoholism is produced as taboo through the mother character which limits the general understanding about alcoholism; hence this discourse is possible to produce by the subject whose credentials can validate the truth. This discourse is also affirmed by the contextual prohibition which authoritatively can state the truth about alcoholism. This is further contested in the current society of how being an alcoholic would be considered as a non-native American way of life. The result indicates that alcoholism among Native American society becomes the discourse within which constraints produce considerable barriers to expose or address to this topic


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Kalu, Kalu Obasi

The American Dream stems from the inaugural speech of President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms”(1941). The Four Freedoms envisaged an American society where the freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom of movement and the rights to life are enshrined, guaranteed, and accommodated. America has been clouded with numerous yearnings from all angles – politics, academic, economic, among other social upheavals for the enthronement of the Four Freedoms. Literary scholars have diminutively expressed the horrors of African Americans in various forms and shades, and have hopefully waited for the day it will be implemented. This paper attempts to relay the horrors, echoes, and possibilities of the American Dream as expressed by literary scholars, and the mass media. It also attempts to unveil the measures the African Americans have tried to live within the face of the horrors that have attained their existence among the White Americans. The possibilities of their struggles to live above subjugations, oppressions, the Jim Crow Laws, and racial discrimination that have rocked the American society for decades are also within the wavelength of this work. 


Open Theology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Kim

AbstractThis paper examines the phenomena of non-western missionaries evangelizing in the West through a case study of a Korean mission movement in the United States. It discusses how Korean missionaries of color were able to evangelize white Americans in the late 1970s and have had some success in crossracial evangelism. It argues that Korean missionaries practiced a theology of sacrifice to evangelize white Americans. They practically embraced suffering, self-denial, and service and specialized in sacrifice to evangelize Americans. An important part of this theology, however, included uplifting and privileging white converts. Given their long history with white-American missionaries and American imperialism, Korean evangelicals were privy to a white-dominant racial hierarchy in American society. This affected those whom the missionaries in my study viewed to be the “real Americans” and the “ideal native” converts in America. It also shaped how they sought to evangelize and draw the white population into their congregations.


2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald M. Platt ◽  
Rhys H. Williams

The current “cultural turn” in the study of social movements has produced a number of concepts formulating the cultural-symbolic dimension of collective actions. This proliferation, however, has resulted in some confusion about which cultural-symbolic concept is best applied to understanding cultural processes involved in social movements. We articulate a new definition of ideology that makes it an empirically useful concept to the study of social-movement mobilization. It is also formulated as autonomous of concepts such as culture and hegemony and of other cultural-symbolic concepts presently used in the movement literature to explain participant mobilization. We demonstrate the usefulness of our ideology concept by analyzing letters written to Martin Luther King, Jr. from segregationists opposed to the integration of American society. The analysis indicates that the letter writers particularized segregationist culture, creating ideologies that fit their structural, cultural, and immediate circumstances, and that the ideologies they constructed thereby acted to mobilize their countermovement participation. The particularizing resulted in four differentiated ideological versions of segregationist culture. The empirically acquired variety of ideological versions is inconsistent with the role attributed to cultural-symbolic concepts in the social-movement literature and requires theoretical clarification. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical implications for social-movement theory of the variety of segregationist ideologies.


1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morris A. Fred

AbstractThe enactment of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in 1990 represented the culmination of a long process of negotiation and ultimate compromise between representatives of Native American tribes and American museums. This paper focuses on the initial implementation stage of NAGPRA. That stage reveals that interaction between the two sides has entailed (and continues to entail) negotiations not only concerning the disposition of specific Native American cultural objects but also equally important concerning the professional identities of Native Americans and museum professionals, respectively. Viewed in this way, NAGPRA's post-enactment process is seen to illustrate the various functions of law (both symbolic and concrete) in maintaining the social and ideological dialectic of American society.


Author(s):  
Craig L. Nessan

Liberation theologies employ action-reflection (praxis-oriented) methodologies in response to particular forms of oppression, normally consisting of five elements: 1) identification with particular forms of oppression and suffering, 2) prophetic critique of that condition, 3) social analysis of the causes of oppression and suffering, 4) biblical and theological engagement to address that suffering and overcome that oppression, and 5) advocacy of structural change toward a greater approximation of justice. Liberation theologies engage in intentional reflection upon particular experiences in which these five elements interact dynamically according to the forms of suffering and oppression specific to particular populations, historical experiences, and contexts. Liberation theologies are contextual theologies, emerging in specific locations and times, and are formulated to address specific forms of suffering and oppression by employing methods of social analysis, which draw upon the sciences (especially the social sciences), and biblical-theological reflection, which draws upon Scripture, religious history, and doctrine. Because these theologies deal with the suffering and oppression of particular endangered groups, central to their concerns are the definition of the human; analysis of sin, especially structural sin that diminishes the worth and status of those in each particular group; and drawing upon theological resources to advocate justice for each oppressed group, including creation itself. Liberation theologies have been subject to affirmation and criticism in the theological literature since their emergence in the 1960s. Major forms of liberation theology include Latin American liberation theology, black liberation theologies, feminist theologies, womanist theologies, Latina/o and mujerista theologies, Native American liberation theologies, LGBTQ+ liberation theologies, and ecojustice theologies. Liberation theologies in America frequently engage in solidarity with liberation theologies in other global contexts. Antecedents of liberation theologies include the abolitionist, social gospel, and women’s suffrage movements, among others.


LITERA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachmat Nurcahyo

Native American narratives are often presented through media presenting native American figures. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (BMHWK) is a non-fiction history-based film that tells the fate of Native Americans against white colonialism. The key figure in the film, Ohiyesa, is an adaptation of Native American figures from the The Indian Boyhood (TIB) written by Charles Eastman. This article reveals the meaning of the character Ohiyesa in the film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. This research used an adaptation approach. Data obtained from the exploration of the figure of Ohiyesa in TIB and BMHWK. Data analysis was performed by conducting a comparative analysis of Ohiyesa at TIB and BMHWK. The results of the analysis show: (1) Ohiyesa character was adapted and dominantly raised by the name of Charles Eastman, (2) this character revealed the memory of deprivation of Native American culture, (3) the character functioned as an assimilation agent, and voiced the concept of cultural assimilation by white Americans. Ohiyesa was made an assimilation agent by the American government. With a strong presentation through his success through his role as a doctor and lobbyist, the American government offers a new life expectancy to American society, which is a cultural assimilation. Ohiyesa has become a symbol of the helplessness and evaluation of the future of Native Americans.Keywords: ohiyesa, native American, narrative, symbol of the helplessness,DUNIA NARATIF PRIBUMI AMERIKA DILIHAT DARI ADAPTASI OHIYESA DALAM BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEEAbstrakNarasi terkait pribumi Amerika sering dimainkan melalui media yang menyuguhkan tokoh pribumi Amerika. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (BMHWK) merupakan film berbasis buku historical non fiction yang menceritakan nasib pribumi Amerika melawan kolonialisasi kulit putih. Tokoh kunci dalam film tersebut, Ohiyesa, merupakan adaptasi tokoh pribumi Amerika dari teks The Indian Boyhood (TIB) karya Charles Eastman. Artikel ini mengungkap pemaknaan terhadap tokoh Ohiyesa dalam film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan adaptasi. Data didapatkan dari eksplorasi tokoh Ohiyesa dalam TIB dan BMHWK. Analisis data dilakukan dengan membandingkan Ohiyesa dalam TIB and BMHWK. Hasil analisis menunjukan bahwa: (1) Karakter Ohiyesa diadaptasi dan secara dominan dimunculkan dengan nama Charles Eastman, (2) Karakter ini mengungkap mengungkap memori perampasan budaya pribumi Amerika, (3) karakter tersebut difungsikan sebagai agen asimilasi, dan menyuarakan konsep asimilasi budaya oleh kulit putih Amerika. Ohiyesa dijadikan agen asimilasi oleh pemerintah Amerika. Dengan pemaparan kuat melalui keberhasilan dia melalui perannya sebagai dokter sekailgus pelobi parlemen, pemerintah Amerika menawarkan harapan hidup baru kepada pribumi Amerika, yaitu sebuah asimilasi budaya. Ohiyesa telah menjadi simbol dari ketakberdayaan dan gambaran masa depan pribumi Amerika.Kata kunci: Ohiyesa, pribumi Amerika, narasi, simbol ketakberdayaan


Author(s):  
Babitha B. Nair

This study highlights the pantheistic perspectives of the Native American society depicted in Leslie Marmon Silko’s short story “Lullaby”. The protagonist’s divine and strong attachment to the objects of the natural world emboldens her to face several dangers in her life. The dominant ways of the Western world lead the central character Ayah into complete chaos. But the superior power of nature forces her to face internal and external struggles. She never curses her fate but tries to move with the ways of the world, tells readers about her willingness to be assimilated into an alien culture and retains her faith in nature and its objects. Nature acts as a guiding light in her life. She lives her life by singing traditional songs. The ideas discussed in the study are socially significant in the current century because we can see how man tries to ignore power of nature and how his unnatural ways disrupt the balance of our natural world.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 381
Author(s):  
Md. Amir Hossain ◽  
S.M. Abu Nayem Sarker

This paper aims to look at the social realistic issues in the context of Sherman Alexie’s literary works. Alexie is one of the postmodern authors in the United States of America. He is very popular among his Native American society as well as community for representing social reality of his age. This paper is divided into several sections; each section shows a benchmark of the 21st century Social Picture of the Native Americans in the light of Alexian Literary Works. It also scrutinizes stories, and novels with a view to highlighting a faithful picture of Native Americans in the light of everyday social issues, including poverty, alcoholism, unhealthiness, racism, and suicidal act. Basically, the main part of my paper deals with social problems of Native Americans in the United States of America as depicted in Alexie’s literary works. It highlights an awareness of the Native Americans so as to keep themselves aloof from drug addiction, poverty, depression, and psychological trauma. Here I have also applied the critical theory of Social Realism with a view to unveiling a subtle literary affinity with Alexie’s works. In this study, I would like to show the significance of this study, and research methodology as well.


2021 ◽  
Vol VI (I) ◽  
pp. 31-40
Author(s):  
Ali Usman Saleem ◽  
Amara Amin ◽  
Amara Javed

The colonial enterprise of Euro-Americans, since its first contact, flourished on the false notions of Indianness, fixating the image of Native Americans as primitive and savages without any claim to civilization or history. This fixity and lack of presence involuntarily led to an absence marked by a lack of identity and subjectivity for the Indians. The current article explores Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian through the theoretical lens of Jana Sequoya, affirming bicultural subjectivity propagated by mixed-blood writers on the nexus of inside-outside as a suitable solution to the paradoxes that constitute Indian identity. Denying the rigid approach of the insularity of cultures, this bicultural work offers the possibility of Indianization of American forms and adaptation and acculturation of those dominant forms that are integral for the advancement of Indians in the modern world. The current research also deduces that such a presence can powerfully combat and confound the discursive dichotomy and representation of Indians as the binarized version of modern and civilized Whites.


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