NAFPS Highly Recommends...

[debbieredbear]

I am reading a book I would reccomend to anyone. It is "on Behalf of the Wolf and First People" By Joseph Marshal III. There is one chapter that is worth the whole book. It is called Not All Indians Dance. It is about stereotypes that people have about Indian people. He is a good writer. My other favorite chapter is alled Indian Art and is about fraudulent art.

[Ganieda]

Two recommendations I would make are Canadian. ? "Dancing with a Ghost" by Rupert Ross for reading ... and for music, Susan Aglukark http://www.susanaglukark.com/ ?

[frederica]

Joy Harjo has both the poetry and recordings.  Ulali, Annie Humphrey, Buffy St. Marie and Gordon Lightfoot are also good. frederica

[Ganieda]

One category not mentioned here is that of film and movies.  I highly recommend the movie: Atanarjuat

Atanarjuat is Canada's first feature-length fiction film written, produced, directed, and acted by Inuit peoples of Arctic Canada. The place is the eastern arctic wilderness at the dawn of the first millenium. Evil in the form of a mysterious, unknown shaman enters a small community of nomadic Inuit and upsets its balance and spirit of cooperation. The stranger leaves behind a lingering curse of bitterness and discord.

Atanarjuat gives international audiences a more authentic view of Inuit culture and oral tradition than ever before, from the inside and through Inuit eyes.

http://atanarjuat.com/index1.html

[debbieredbear]

Atanarjuat  is a great film! My Inupiat friends especially liked it because they did not need to read the subtitles.

[Liam]

hi there,

I was surprised to see a reference to Harvey Arden and his description of what he felt an Elder is. I don't take so much of an issue with what he says (or the people he quotes), but the way he goes about things. I have only read Dreamkeepers, and browsed Wisdomkeepers, but I do find him to be a bit of a pain. In my thesis I guess you could say he ranks relatively well, but then again I am writing about Lynn Andrews and Marlo Morgan and I'm calling him "less-bad".

However, I'm not sure what he does is entirely different to what Morgan and Andrews do. He travells to a far away place to gather "wisdom" from people he consistently constructs as noble savages. The title he gives these people "Dreamkeepers" is one he hopes will stick. It obviously comes out of the the white construct called "the Dreamtime", and the idea continues to be a white construct - a white construct for white people in fact. Dreamkeepers (and I suspect Wisdomkeepers) is written for white people, about Indigenous people - the communities where he found his informants  I would doubt have much use for it, I doubt get any money out of it. He wrote as his dedication "This book is dedicated to the Aboriginal peoples of Australia, to Aboriginal peoples everywhere and the the Aboriginal in each of us' - it is the "Aboriginal in each of us" that I worry about - is this any different from white people's assertion to "walk the red road"? Or "I was called Cherokee Princess Eats too much Cake in a past life"?

Am interested to hear what people think. I thought My Life is my Sundance was good - but he's certainly used the name he got from that to buy himself leverage.

Cheers

Liam

[debbieredbear]

I have some of the same reservations as you do. I have questioned him about some of his choices and gotten a basic non-answer. I believe he is well intentioned, but misguided.

[Marlou]

I would recommend "Stolen continents-conquest and resistance in the Americas" By Ronald Wright.
Marlene

[180IQ]

One category not mentioned here is that of film and movies.  I highly recommend the movie: Atanarjuat

Atanarjuat is Canada's first feature-length fiction film written, produced, directed, and acted by Inuit peoples of Arctic Canada. The place is the eastern arctic wilderness at the dawn of the first millenium. Evil in the form of a mysterious, unknown shaman enters a small community of nomadic Inuit and upsets its balance and spirit of cooperation. The stranger leaves behind a lingering curse of bitterness and discord.

Atanarjuat gives international audiences a more authentic view of Inuit culture and oral tradition than ever before, from the inside and through Inuit eyes.

http://atanarjuat.com/index1.html

I've not seen this one but now I will. What you say about it brings to mind another film I like, called Map of the Human Heart.

[Ric_Richardson]

Tansi;

One book, which I read many years ago and found to be very interesting, is "Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas transformed the World."  It is by Jack Weatherford, ISBN 04409904962.

Has anyone else read this?

Ric

[Ingeborg]

One book, which I read many years ago and found to be very interesting, is "Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas transformed the World."  It is by Jack Weatherford, ISBN 04409904962.

I read both this and "Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America" and I think they are highly recommendable, as they offer a perspective usually neglected - on purpose - and therefore are much more than just interesting to read.

[Barnaby_McEwan]

Two old punk tunes:

DOA: "New Age"

New age, I don't believe you, I thought you were talkin' about something new.
New age, I'm gonna destroy you, after what you put me through.

Dead Kennedys: "California Über Alles"

Zen fascists will control you
100% natural
You will jog for the master race
And always wear the happy face 

These songs aren't about plastic shamans particularly, but they work for me and that's what's important!

[debbieredbear]

My niece loaned me a book she read for a university class. It is Halfbreed by Maria Campbell and it is about the Metis people of Canada.

[Ric_Richardson]

Tansi;

Maria Campbell is a very well respected Metis person, who has been active in many ways, for several decades.  She has written other books, which include some of our Oral traditional stories, as well as a fair amount about our Culture. 

The book, Halfbreed, actually broke down the "Buckskin Curtain" which brought the Metis into the knowledge of non-native people, in the late 1960's.  Prior to her writing this autobiographical book, the Metis were just Canada's "forgotten people."

Maria is still very active in research and promoting our Culture.

Ric

[debbieredbear]

Ric,

I am glad to hear this. I hope to read more of her books since my husband's father's side has Metis lineage. His father was from the Turtle Mountain rez in North Dakota.