American Indian Culture and Research Journal

INTRODUCTION From the beginning, observers have remarked about the special relationship American Indian people seemed to have with the spoken word. All the powerful and fantastic tribal stories-that spoke of the origins of the earth, culture heroes, and crafty tricksters-were transmitted exclusively by oral communication in America’s native cultures, making the spoken word appear to carry even greater power. And ever since anthropologists at the turn of the century brought cultural pluralism to their profession, they and others have seen tribal myths, folktales, and legends as worthy of scholarly attention, as well as personal interest. Over the past decade and a half, a new generation of scholars has again begun to give prominence to the words of American Indians. Perhaps even more than their predecessors, this new group-composed primarily of literature scholars-has emphasized the importance of native oral texts of different types, and has suggested their value for modern America. This group’s work has even caught the attention of the public in some cases, in arguing for the “strength,” “richness,” ”wisdom,” and ”cosmic balance’’ of American Indian oral literature. Brian Swam, one member of this group, has argued that in contrast to those influenced by western culture, American Indians have a ”truly sacramental sense of language” in which object and word are fused together in a uniquely creative process.