Paula Gunn Allen (1939–2008)

Dry at times and yet interesting both historically and spiritually. The ideas are a new take on Pocahontas’s life and her role in her society, and the author convincingly knocks down a lot of the myths. The concept of the Manitou Aki, that other way of knowing time and space and reality, was for me the most profound aspect of the book.

Review: The Woman Who Owned The Shadows by Paula Gunn Allen. This is a book about a contemporary American Indian woman named Ephanie Atencio. The poetic writing style captivated me from page one. Yet, the content was fascinating and interesting it was sometimes hard to follow. The story was written in various combinations revolving around different aspects of Ephanie’s life. In order for me to understand and visualize clearly I had to read at a slow pace. The story of Ephanie life was show more occupied by many issues and it took a strong woman to live among minorities, especially being female, lesbian, and Native American. Ephanie Atencio story begins when she is under a lot of stress and is on the edge of having a breakdown. Her husband has left her and she becomes unable to care for her children. Her mother winds up taking the children so Ephanie could have time to pull herself together. She leaves New Mexico for San Francisco, where she can sort out parts of her emotions and life. For a while she went through a process of remembering her childhood and ultimately finding a way to know herself, no longer relying on men. She learns her journey weaves effectively through many faces of reality. She searches for her strength and her power that she knows is within her in order to face her future. Ephanie does marry again to a Nisei man, Thomas Yoshuri, feeling at this time in her life he needs her and she needs structure. She soon realizes she can’t know herself through him. She starts to spend a lot of time with the white women of the community and is befriended by Teresa who she can easily talk with. Ephanie goes through many confusing emotions throughout her story but when she finally accepts reality within herself she knows her future was among the women of her own people and the women in her world. show less

These twenty-one stories from the Cherokee, Navajo (Dine), Aztec, Maya, and other North American civilizations have guided female shamans toward an understanding of the sacred for centuries. Here are creation stories, prophecies, stories that disclose how medicine power is transmitted from the world of the supernaturals to the world of humans. . . . Together they make up a female shamanic tradition and suggest the relation of ritual magic to women's daily lives.

Paula Gunn has too much to say about each story, most of which were ‘slices of life’ ending just before the consequential events. Few of the stories were much in themselves, and I probably refused to actually read the one that was because it was soaked in violence to the protagonist, not as much physical as spiritual. My takeaway is that Dean Ing is Native American.