Alter-Native Nations and Narrations: The World of DeWitt Clinton Duncan (Too-qua-stee), Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa) and E. Pauline Johnson

Abstract

In this essay, the ways in which the concept of nationhood is reinforced and negotiated in Native American writing and oral tradition is examined. As among other nations, Indigenous literature, both oral and written, plays a significant role in negotiating Indigenous nationhood, which, in the late nineteenth century, has already been severely shattered by colonialism. This literary oriented essay includes a poem by Cherokee DeWitt Clinton Duncan (Too-qua-stee) called "A Dead Nation" (1899), a short story by Wahpeton Sioux Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa) called4 A War Maiden" (1906) and a short story by Mohawk E. Pauline Johnson called "My Mother" (1913).