Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)

STUDIES - Bruce J. Degi: Braiding the New Native American Narrative: Michael Dorrié Yellow Raft in Blue Water.

the contract the right way" (23). It is apparently still much too easy not to read Yellow Raft "the right way." Dorris does not write about a "disposed people" or their "despoiled culture." Yet that anticipated "truth" about native Americans apparently overshadows every part of the novel for many reviewers. Simplicity once again wins out over complexity; change is easier to resist than to accept. Pity here remains the accepted emotional response to any native American narrative. The most unfortunate characteristic of this "pre-packaged" response to the novel diminishes not only the text, but the people in and behind the novel. Nancy Shoemaker mentions that she has learned to refer to everyone in the past as "they." Even my use of "they" risks defining Indians as "others" pushed into the background of the story. But when students say "we" and "they" these seemingly innocuous pronouns become laden with connotations of inclusion and exclusion. When students use "we," it is not clear who else is in the category with them. ... White students seem to conflate "we whites" with "we Americans" which pushes Indians even further out of the classroom, all the way out of America. I have tried to discuss the use of pronouns with students, but the lesson does not last for long. (A48) As these British reviews suggest, the problem is sadly not limited to American students. Parker's review, with its "we" see how "they" live underpinning represents the extent to which this problem continues to be universal. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water is the strongest attack to date on archaic notions of native Americans. It is sadly obvious that it is just the beginning of a long struggle to come. Sharon O'Brien, in "Federal Indian Policies and the International Protection of Human Rights," raises a final point: the UNESCO Declaration of the Principles of International Cultural Cooperation, Article One, states that "in their rich variety and diversity, and in the reciprocal influences they exert on one another, all cultures form part of the common heritage belonging to all mankind" (Deloria 53). By 31