SOURCE: A review of The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions, in Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 103, No. 408, April-June, 1990, pp. 245-47.

In the following, Milspaw faults the uneven quality of the essays included in The Sacred Hoop, but argues that the collection "is enormously important to our understanding of the growing body of superb Native American Literature."

Paula Gunn Allen's collection of essays on contemporary American Indian literature [The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions] focuses on her conviction that Native American cultures were essentially gynocentric, and, as a result, Native American literature is inherently feminist. Arguing from her position as a feminist, an American Indian, a poet, a novelist, a critic, and a scholar (she teaches Native American Studies at Berkeley), she presents her material forcefully, gracefully, and at times, quite convincingly.

Her major argument is built around the centrality of...