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Einhorn, a rhetorical scholar, explores the rich history of the Native American oral tradition, focusing on stories, orations, prayers, and songs. Because American Indians existed without written language for many generations, their culture was strongly dependent on an oral tradition for continuity and preservation. Not surprisingly, they spent many hours perfecting the art of oral communication and learning methods for committing their messages to memory. Einhorn thoroughly examines the important aspects of this unique oral tradition from a rhetorical perspective, covering individual speakers, nations, and time periods.
In the first half of the book, the author examines how the Native American oral tradition has affected their cultural assumptions, principles, values, beliefs, and experiences. These chapters focus primarily on characteristics of the Native American oral tradition that transcend individual nations. The second half of the book includes translated transcripts of representative speeches, stories, prayers, and songs. In accessible and compelling prose, Einhorn discusses the sanctity of the spoken word to Native Americans, concluding that their oral tradition helps to account for the survival of their people and their culture.
List of contents
Preface
Foreword
Introduction
Cultural Assumptions Reflecting and Refining the Oral Tradition
Imbuing the Earth with Imagery
Speeches of Peace and Protest
Stories Planting Sage for the Soul
Prayers and Songs of Celebration and Purification
The Importance of the Oral Tradition
Conclusion
Index
About the author
LOIS J. EINHORN, Associate Professor Rhetoric at Binghamton University, has written at length on public address and rhetorical theory and criticism. She is the author of Abraham Lincoln, The Orator: Penetrating the Lincoln Legend (Greenwood, 1992) and is co-author of Effective Employment Interviewing: Unlocking Human Potential (1982).
Summary
Einhorn, a rhetorical scholar, explores the rich history of the Native American oral tradition, focusing on stories, orations, prayers, and songs.
