In
Euroamerican annals of contact with Native Americans, Indians have
consistently been portrayed as master orators who demonstrate natural
eloquence during treaty negotiations, councils, and religious
ceremonies. Esteemed by early European commentators more than
indigenous storytelling, oratory was in fact a way of establishing
self-worth among Native Americans, and might even be viewed as their
supreme literary achievement.
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William
Clements now explores the reasons for the acclaim given to Native
oratory.
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He examines in detail a wide range of source material representing
cultures throughout North America, analyzing speeches made by Natives
as recorded by whites, such as observations of treaty negotiations,
accounts by travelers, missionaries' reports, captivity narratives, and
soldiers' memoirs.
Here is a rich documentation of oratory dating from the earliest
records: Benjamin Franklin's publication of treaty proceedings with the
Six Nations of the Iroquois; the travel narratives of John Lawson, who
visited Carolina Indians in the early 1700s; accounts of Jesuit
missionary Pierre De Smet, who evangelized to Northern Plains Indians
in the nineteenth century; and much more. The book also includes full
texts of several orations. These texts are comprehensive documents that
report not only the contents of the speeches but the entirety of the
delivery: the textures, situations, and contexts that constitute
oratorical events.
Oratory
in Native North America is a panoramic work that introduces
readers to a vast history of Native speech while recognizing the
limitations in premodern reporting. By guiding us through this
labyrinth, Clements shows that with understanding we can gain
significant insight not only into Native American culture but also into
a rich storehouse of language and performance art.
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Oratory in Native North America
by William M. Clements
University
of Arizona Press, 2002
Order
a copy
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