Tales of the Earth

Native North American Creation Mythology

David Leeming

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781789145007
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

A revealing analysis of key themes in Native American origin myths—and their stark contrast with the exceptionalist values of the United States. Tales of the Earth is a comprehensive yet concise overview of Native American mythologies. After outlining theories of the origins of Native North Americans, David Leeming considers the creation myths of many tribes, emphasizing four commonly occurring figures: the Great Spirit, the trickster, the goddess, and the hero. Leeming suggests that in addition to these figures, Native American mythologies have in common a deep reverence for the earth and for community responsibility as opposed to individualism—tenets that stand in stark contrast to the concepts of exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny that characterize the United States, a nation that was built on ancient tribal land.

Index

Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations

Acoma 72, 73, 73, 74, 77

creation 72–5

Adams, Ansel 82

African Americans 119

Akimel O’odam 21

Alariak, Nuvualiak, Sedna with Fingers Cut 64

Alexander, Hartley Burr 9

Algonquians 21

Algonquin 21, 66, 92

creation 66

American exceptionalism 119

Anasazi 18

Anishinaabe see Ojibwe

Apache 21, 35, 71, 77, 81, 110, 116, 124

Arapaho 21, 110

Armour, R. C., ‘Still the Waters Rose’ 52

Barry, David Francis

Chief Sitting Bull 99

Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill 113

Bates, Edward

Chief Geronimo 116

Beringia 19–21, 20

Bierhorst, John 9

Black Elk 28, 30, 84

Blackfoot 21, 90, 93

creation 31–3

hero see Kutoyis

Blessingway see Navajo

Blood 31

creation 31–3

Boisseau, Alfred, Louisiana Indians Walking Along a Bayou (The Trail of Tears) 118

Bouttais, Pieter Balthazar, ‘Admiral Christopher Columbus Discovers the Island of Hispaniola’ 12

Buffalo Bill Cody 30, 113–14, 113

buffalo dance 107–10, 108

Bull, Amos Bad Heart, Custer Battle Field (Battle of Little Big Horn) 110

Cahokia 18

Calf Pipe 84–7

Catlin, George

Buffalo Dance, Mandan 108

The Cutting Scene, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony 39

Changing Woman 40, 77–81, 88, 100, 102, 104

Cherokee 21, 69, 114–15

creation 69

Cheyenne 21, 83

Chickasaw 21, 45

Chumash 82

Clovis people 20

Collingwood, Herbert W., ‘Squanto’ 121

Columbus, Christopher 11, 12, 13, 18

Comanche 21

Cora, Angel de 49

Corn Mother 60, 81, 124

Cornplanter, Jesse 9

Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de 13

Cortés, Hernando 13

Coyote 8, 31, 43, 49, 54–8, 61, 91, 123

Coyote and the Rock 47–8

Crazy Horse 109–11

creation myth types 7

Cree 21

Creek 21, 113, 115

Crow 21, 57, 91

creation 57

culture heroes 8, 23, 25, 39, 50, 54–5, 59, 61, 66, 84, 89–91, 124

Curtin, Jeremiah 8

Curtis, Edward 5, 40–41, 56

Navajo medicine man 41

Navajo sand painting 40

Custer’s Last Stand 110, 113

Dakota see Sioux

Declaration of Independence 119

deus faber creation 34–5

Diegueno 36

creation 36

Dine see Navajo

Doanmoe, Etahdleu, View of an Attack 114

Dobyns, Henry F. 22

dry paintings 40, 81

earth-diver creation 7, 25, 53, 57, 68, 124

Earth Mother 65–70

Earthmaker 31

emergence creation 7, 25, 70–82, 122, 124

Erdoes, Richard 9

Erikson, Leif 11

Evening Star 33

ex nihilo creation 7–8, 25, 27 32, 66–7

Ferris, Jean Gerome, The First Thanksgiving 10

Five Civilized Tribes 115

Forestier, Amédée, ‘The Ghost Dance of the Sioux Indians in North America’ 97

Franklin, Benjamin 115

genocide 119

Geronimo 110–11, 114, 125

Gast, John, American Progress 120

Ghost Dance 96–8

movement 97–8, 113, 125

Gitche Manitou 27, 52

Glooscap 50, 51, 61, 66, 92, 125

as monster slayer 90–93

goddess significance 8, 25–6, 36, 65–6, 121, 124–5

Great Goddess 40, 65–6, 98

Great Hare, the 43, 52–4, 91

Great Myster...