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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (44226)	1/7/2006 4:24:54 AM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

'Oneida Iroquois Folklore, Myth and History: New York Oral Narrative from the Notes of H.E. Allen and Others,' by Anthony Wonderley In the decades surrounding the turn of the 20th century, Indian tribes faced serious threats to their very survival. The Dawes Act took away reservation homelands, while the boarding school movement sabotaged tribal languages, culture and memories. Children grew up foreign to their heritage; and as knowledgeable elders died off, Native languages and lifeways moved closer to extinction. Poverty and pessimism became the rule rather than the exception in many Indian communities. Today, many tribes have earnestly embarked on efforts to recapture their cultures, relearn their ancient languages and restore pride in their heritage. Such projects are indeed laudable in trying to regain such vast and sometimes irreplaceable losses. Every so often, one of those ''irreplaceable'' losses becomes a gem of a find. In the course of his work as historian for the Oneida Indian Nation of New York, Anthony Wonderley spent a great deal of time in libraries, museums and other such archival repositories. While working at the nearby Hamilton College Library in early 2001, he happened across a typewritten manuscript from 1948 containing a cultural treasure trove. Compiled by a non-Indian scholar named Hope Emily Allen, the document retold dozens of Oneida folktales collected from two of her Oneida friends in the early 1900s. This find spurred the writing of Wonderley's remarkable and informative book, ''Oneida Iroquois Folklore, Myth and History: New York Oral Narrative from the Notes of H.E. Allen and Others.'' As its title suggests, this must-read volume preserves aspects of Oneida Indian culture that may otherwise have been lost to history. ''I think the Oneida story is well worth telling and should be known,'' Wonderley said during a recent interview. He added that many people in and around the Oneida homelands in upstate New York believe that the Oneida people have lost their identity. ''But they stayed and constituted a distinct community that has stayed in place and never left.'' Employing Allen's manuscripts and a vast array of other sources, Wonderley recreated Oneida oral tradition as it existed between 1880 and 1925. As it was for all Indian peoples, these years were ones of great loss for the Oneidas. After significant numbers of their tribe emigrated to Wisconsin and Ontario, the remaining Oneidas struggled to persevere in two small communities in their ancestral homeland, south of the present-day city of Oneida, N.Y. Although tribal members often worked for and interacted with their non-Indian neighbors, they carefully guarded their rich storytelling heritage. The interest and care taken by Allen to record and preserve these valuable examples of oral narrative is an incredible gift to present and future students of Oneida and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) folklore. Writing in an easily readable style, Wonderley draws readers into a magical world of flying heads, stone giants and little people. He retells the stories of how the bear lost his tail and how the chipmunk got his stripes, among many others. Also included are dozens of illustrations of Oneida pottery, pipes, combs and wampum. Wonderley offers a detailed analysis of the Oneida stories, not only finding aspects of similarity with tales from Wyandot and Huron lore but also pointing out the uniquely Iroquoian characteristics they contain. He noted how certain tales have evolved over the years, and pointed out influences that may have come from European storytellers like the Brothers Grimm. While folklore can be useful and important to a people in many ways, the story of Polly Cooper, the Oneida woman who brought food to Gen. George Washington's starving troops at Valley Forge in 1777, proved quite practical. The Oneidas used this story in an early land claim case to help prove the nation's long-lasting and special relationship with the U.S. government. In 1916, attempts by non-Indians to illegally acquire the last parcel of communally held land, a 32-acre plot known today as ''the territory,'' led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling (United States v. Boylan) that said the Oneida people retained ''aboriginal title to the soil'' of that small tract of land. This victory also bestowed federal recognition upon the Oneida Nation. Wonderley writes in his final chapter that the Cooper story ''was articulated in characteristically Oneida fashion - the mythopoeic language of storytellers uncomfortable in formal English expression and ill-at-ease in an alien and often hostile courtroom setting ... [The Oneidas] dusted off a tradition and offered it to the world. In the context of the concern created by Boylan, the old legend of Polly Cooper became salient.'' ''Oneida Iroquois Folklore, Myth and History'' will surely appeal to readers on several levels. As the first major study of Iroquois folklore in decades, Wonderley's book offers much for the scholar interested in the passage of ancient folklore through the oral tradition to the present. Likewise, the historian interested in a story of cultural perseverance in the face of hostile governments and neighbors, and the casual reader looking for fantastic tales of Indian children and grandmothers, forest animals and supernatural beings, will both enjoy this wonderful book. ''Oneida Iroquois Folklore, Myth and History'' is published by Syracuse University Press. For more information, visit www.syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu or call (315) 443-5534. indiancountry.com