ASAIL Notes
Vol. IX, No.3                             May 1992

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"Sounds like an esoteric word war to me, but at the same time the sense of oral stories in the printed word is mythic, the remembered poet over the noted critic . . ." The Heirs of Columbus, Gerald Vizenor

Contents

Association News                   Page 2
Publications                            Page 3
Calls                                        Page 6
Resources                                Page 8
Gatherings                               Page 9
Bulletin Board                        Page 10

ASAIL NOTES

is published three times a year for the Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures, with assistance from the Department of English, Western Washington University. Due dates for publications are October 15, February 15 and May 15. Send news-worthy materials or subscription fees to:

John Purdy
Department of English
Western Washington University
Bellingham, WA 98225-9055
                              Technical assistance: Mark Sherman

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Association News

Kate Shanley (Assiniboine, Univ. of Washington) will conduct a workshop at the D'Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian from August 5th to 8th. Entitled "Autobiographies," the workshop "will examine the life stories of Native Americans as sources for teaching and research."
        The workshop is one in a program at the Newberry, aided with funding from the N.E.H., for "anyone teaching at an American post-secondary institution. For application forms and additional details, contact Marge Curtis, Administrative Assistant at the Center." Applications are due for the workshops on March 1 which means, given Notes' publication dates, application for Kate's workshop is no longer possible. However, deadlines for fellowships at the Center are both 1 March and 1 August, and there will be workshops next year as well.

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Publications

        Carter Revard has a new collection of poems due out within the next month. Cowboys and Indians, Christmas Shopping will be released by Point Riders Press, Box 2731, Norman, OK 73070.

        From the D'Arcy McNickle Center at the Newberry Library in Chicago, America in 1492: "an unprecedented one-volume portrait of the peoples and the civilizations of the hemisphere on the eve of the Columbus voyages. Edited by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. . . . the book brings together vivid descriptions of the major regions and topics of the Americas as they were in 1492 in addition to fascinating descriptions of daily life. . . . America in 1492 will contain seven original maps; several specially prepared illustrations that explain complex subjects such as the Mayan calendar, Cahokia, and a native language; and over 150 illustrations reproduced from the Newberry's collections of rare books and original art." This book is published and distributed by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (For a related item, see "Resources.")
        Also from the McNickle Center and the University of Oklahoma Press: Writings in Indian History, 1985-1990. This work, edited by Jay Miller and Colin G. Calloway, is a continuation of the Center's bibliography series, which includes Indian-White Relations in the United States: A Bibliography of Works Published 1975-1980, and New Directions in American Indian History (edited by Colin G. Calloway, 1988).

        Meeting Ground: Gah-Baeh-Jhaqwah-Buk The Way It Happened. A Visual Culture History of the Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa. James M. McClurken. East Lansing: {4} Michigan State Univ. Press., 1991. "This is the first of a series of pictorial histories of Michigan's native communities. Approximately, it also marks the centennial of the Odawa history so sensitively written by Andrew Jackson Blackbird (Macketebenessy). . . ."

        BAKwBAKwALANUSIWA: A Haisla Story by Gordot Robertson. Edited by Neville J. Lincoln, John C. Rath, and Evelyn Windsor. Amerindia Supplement 3 1990. (To purchase, contact Guy Bucholtzer, Department of Linguistics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V6A 1S8.) "In this novel and ambitious tri-lingual text, a Haisla story is printed with extensive commentary in English and French. . . ."

        Native Americans: An Annotated Bibliography. Frederick E. Hoxie and Harvey Markowitz, Editors. (Magill Bibliographies) Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1991. "The items listed in this bibliography reflect the trend toward even more careful scholarship regarding Native Americans as well as the expanding Indian role in the production of that scholarship."

        Wolfgang Hochbruck, "I have spoken": The Form and the Ideological Function of Native Orality in North American Literature. Dissertation, Univ. Freiburg. (Forthcoming publication: ScriptOralia, 32.) Hochbruck "focuses on just one aspect of the image of the Indian in North Ame can literature: the fabrication of Native orality in written texts from the earliest periods of cultural contact to the present."

From the ever-valuable S.S.I.L.A. Newsletter: Portage Lake: Memories of an Ojibwe Childhood. Maude Kegg. Edited and transcribed by John D. Nichols. Univ. of Alberta Press, 1991. Forty-one "stories dictated in Ojibwe by an elder of the Mille Lacs Reservation. . . ."

Editor's Note

This is the last issue of Asail Notes until October. For the Fall issue, send any information you wish included to me during the Summer, or by 15 October.

Have a good Summer. Good thoughts.

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Calls

        From a University of Nebraska Press new release: "Submissions for the 1992 North American Indian Prose Award are welcome. The annual award, co-sponsored by the University of Nebraska Press and the Native American Studies Program of the University of California, Berkeley, is given on the basis of literary merit, originality, and familiarity with North American Indian life. The competition invites biography, autobiography, history, literary criticism, and essays; it excludes poetry, drama, and work previously published in book form. The winner receives a cash advance of $1000 and publication of the award-winning manuscript by the University of Nebraska Press.
        The annual deadline for submissions is July 1. Finalists will be chosen by November 1, and the author of the award-winning manuscript will be notified in January the following year.. . ." Past winners were Diane Glancy (1990) for Claiming Breath, and Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve (1991) for Completing the Circle. For rules, please write to: North American Indian Prose Award, University of Nebraska Press, 327 Nebraska Hall, 901 North 17th Street, Lincoln, NE 68588-0520.

        A.S.A.I.L. member Patrick D. Murphy is establishing a new journal, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, which will provide a forum for critical studies primarily of the literary and secondarily of the performing arts that would proceed from or address environmental considerations. He is seeking contributions for the first and subsequent issues. Each issue will have the following sections: Theory and Criticism; Critical Notes; Pedagogical and Community Practice; Dialogues: Responses, Posi-{7}tions, and Proposals; Reviews. The first issue will appear in the Spring. ISLE welcomes essays and notes that apply Native American values/beliefs/perspectives to other literatures, as well as work on Native American oral and written literatures, which address the environmental dimension. Manuscripts in triplicate should be anonymous with separate cover page to conform to current MLA style. Send all correspondence about contributions and subscriptions to Patrick D. Murphy, Editor, ISLE, English Department, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705-1094.

        Lee & Low Books is a children's book publisher that specializes in multicultural themes. The company plans to launch its first list [this Spring] with three to five picture books, in fiction and non-fiction. They are seeking submissions from Native American writers. Prior experience is not necessary. Writers should send resume, writing samples, and self-addressed stamped envelope for answer to query. . . Philip Lee, Publisher, Lee & Low Books, 228 East 45th Street, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10017.

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        Resources

        From Meeting Ground, the newsletter of the D'Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian:

        "The Newberry Library recently became the repository for one of the premier works of Native American History. Known as the Browning Manuscript, it is a copy of the lost original by the Nahua historian Chimalpahin (1579-1660?), whose works are unique to the historiography of Mesoamenca.
        His histories represent the most comprehensive extant account about Indian Mexico recorded by a known Nahua in his native language. . . . Coming from a private collection in Yuma, Arizona, and known as the Browning ms., Chimalpahin's "Conquista" history [and its inclusive period of 670-1630] will be a valuable addition to the Library's collection of Spanish Americana. . . . While subsequent copies were made of the Browning ms., this is the only complete copy in the Americas." For information on fellowships contact the Center at the Newberry Library, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago, IL 606 10-3380.

        Also at the Newberry is the Popol Vuh. "Written in Kiche towards the middle of the sixteenth century, the Popol Vuh, meaning 'Book of Counsel' or 'Book of Community,' is a Maya account of the creation of the universe, in which is recorded a rich multiplicity of knowledge, including myths, legends, memories of historic migrations, and tales of lineage wars, from the time of the first ancestors to the arrival of the Spaniards in Guatemala in 1524. The Newberry manuscript is a copy of the original made towards the end of the seven-{9}teenth century by Francisco Ximenez. . . ."

        The Latin American Indian Literatures Association held its annual International Symposium in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico in January. For more information about this organization and its programs, contact Dr. Elena Ray, Treasurer L.A.I.L.A., Department of Languages and Literature, 311 Watson Hall, Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, IL 60115.

Gatherings

        Atlantic Center for the Arts is offering an interdisciplinary residency opportunity for talented visual artists, writers, poets and composers. The Native American Experience, September 27-October 17, 1992, will feature Master Artists in Residence James Luna, visual/performance artist, Simon Ortiz, poet/writer, and Louis Ballard, composer. The center fosters "interaction and collaboration between Masters and Associates as well as between the various disciplines: in other words, a cross-fertilization of creativity." Deadline for applications: June 30. Residency fee: $600, includes tuition and housing. Scholarships are available. For brochure, write or call Atlantic Center for the Arts 1414 Art Center Avenue, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168, telephone: (904) 427-6975.

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Bulletin Board

        The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded The University of Arizona Press a Challenge Grant of $237,500. The purpose of the grant is to build an endowment to support publication of works in history, philosophy, language, and literature, with emphasis on Native American and Latin American cultures. An endowment of $950,000 is to be established by means of matching funds of $712,500 to be raised by the Press.

        The Chicano/Native American Cultural Center at the University of Iowa has both a Native American Studies course and its own library, for which it seeks complimentary copies of relevant books. Send any contributions to: Sharon Manybeads Bowers, Manager at the Center, 308 Melrose Avenue, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.

                 Yes, mam,
it surely does, it
symbolizes that once
upon a time there
was a hole
in the blanket.

            from "Powwow"
                 -in Night Perimeter by Gogisgi/Carroll Arnett