Winona LaDuke

LaDuke's novelization of 140 years of her family's history is a heavy lift at first before things settle down and she begins to hopscotch over events among the Anishinaabe peoples of northwestern Minnesota.

The reader is hit, in the early passages, with a mind-bending list of characters and text heavy with content in the Ojibwe language. It’s a conscious and purposeful choice by the author to establish the worldview and culture about which she is writing, but most monolinguists will stumble show more through it a few sentences at a time, pausing every few words to mentally pronounce an agglomeration of syllables and striving afterward to re-catch the flow and intent of the story. Some may give up altogether at that point, but those who persevere will be rewarded.

The language smooths out somewhat as the story moves into the clashes between Native tribes and U.S. government forces in the 1800s and the episodic structure moves from pivot point to pivot point in the region’s history.

Some of the material will be familiar to readers who have followed the fortunes of most Native peoples – the clashes between tribal culture and the encroachment of European-based immigrants, the loss of land as the notion of Indian reservations took hold, the removal of Native children to boarding schools, the frequent misappropriations and internal betrayals, the diaspora as families moved to urban areas in search of a better life, and the resurgence of Native rights movements in the latter part of the 20th century. LaDuke always chooses to look at these issues through the lens of the personal experiences of her characters, whether fictional, fictionalized, or historical.

She winds up the journey on a hopeful note as part of the story comes full circle, admitting that “there are many stories here. And, there is much to learn for the future. For all the pain and heartache we have felt, there has been and will be, an equal amount of joy. That is how everything works. There is always a struggle to maintain the balance.” show less

In this beautifully-written saga of a Minnesota Ojibwe family, author and activist Winona LaDuke chronicles their lives on the White Earth Reservation over the course of generations, from early conflicts with white encroachment and theft of land, resources and culture, to exuberant celebrations of identity, to contemporary challenges and victories.

Although fiction, the trials and injustices contained within this book are almost certainly based on actual events, and to be honest it likely show more wouldn't be difficult to convince me every word was true. There were times I was fervently hoping some parts were untrue, while simultaneously wishing others were. I'm inspired to learn more about how best to support land recovery projects currently underway in my state, and I agree with other readers that this would be a good candidate for required high school reading, especially in Minnesota. As a Minnesotan, I felt this was an important book for me to have read. I was left feeling heartbreak, shame and sadness for all that has been lost, but also a little bit hopeful that — maybe — some wrongs can perhaps be righted. show less

Originally posted on my blog, http://smallpressures.blogspot.com

If the only way you have heard of Winona LaDuke was through her run for the Vice Presidency on the Nader ticket in 1996 and 2000, pick up this book right away. In fact, I will forgive you if you drift off of my blog completely to run out (or click out) and buy it right now.

Recovering the Sacred is a collection of narratives about various instances when Native Americans have reclaimed traditional lands, practices, and perhaps show more more importantly, food. LaDuke, a member of the Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe), is involved in The White Earth Land Recovery Project, a Minnesota project involving Native Americans recovering traditional food production. She was the first, and remains the only, activist/radical politician that I have seen on the Food Network, where she appeared to discuss Ojibwe practice of harvesting wild rice.

Like anyone else who recently went to graduate school for literature, I have read my fair share of activist writing of all stripes, usually pedantic and academic crap that takes a subject matter of great interest and importance and sucks all the life right out of it. However, what struck me the most about Recovering the Sacred was the incredible tone and the craft of writing displayed here. There are a lot of writer-activists out there who are much better activists than they are writers, but in LaDuke manages to both amuse and engender a passionate response both by how she writes as well as the subject matter.

LaDuke uses a dry humor throughout the book as she picks apart the arguments of those who oppose Native Americans' efforts, as when in response to a Vatican Observatory pronouncement (about Native opposition to a large observatory being built on sacred land in Arizona) that they "would like to learn about any such genuine concerns of authentic Apaches" she grabs you with a little mockery, opining, "Ah, the problem of finding 'authentic' Indians," and then follows it up with cold hard facts: "Not that anyone looked very hard. No formal attempts were made to meet with the Apache until four years after the project was had been proposed." Even her subject headings are kind of cute: "Raising Arizona;" in an entry about mining, "Sucking the Mother Dry;" or invoking the aura of classic Western movies, "A River Runs Through It."

So you're drawn in a little by the humor and the clear prose, but what keeps you are the stories. When reading a lot of Native non-fiction, or just thinking about the history of Native Americans, one can easily be left with a sense of hopelessness. But here, LaDuke deals out hope. Each well-crafted, well-researched story is one of Native peoples reclaiming something sacred they have lost, small victories acheived through peaceful, legal means -- quite differently than the way they lost it. It's good writing about activism at its best and most productive. show less

In this book Winona LaDuke, a member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg of the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, relates a number of ways Native Americans are pursuing the reclamation of land, resources, history, memory and nomenclature in the United States. The sum total of victories so far has been unjustly few, and decidedly rage-inducing, but LaDuke finishes on a somewhat hopeful note in the final chapters.