Charles Eastman Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Erik Peterson

Critical Essay by Erik Peterson

SOURCE: "An Indian, An American," in Studies in American Indian Literature, Vol. 4, Nos. 2-3, Summer/Fall, 1992, pp. 145-60.

In the essay that follows, Peterson claims that autobiographies such as Charles Eastman's exemplify an attempt to reconcile cultural and political tensions between Native American and white societies, and reflect the conflicting responses of Native Americans to Western expansion.

But after the white people came, elements in this world began to shift; and it became necessary to create new ceremonies. I have made changes in the rituals. The people mistrust this greatly, but only this growth keeps the ceremonies strong.

—Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony

Four centuries after Columbus stumbled onto the "New World" and mistakenly named its inhabitants, over fifty representatives of the newly formed American Indian Association met on his birthday in Columbus, Ohio. Their purpose was to define their "common ground" as Indians and...
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