ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON

"THE BORDERLANDS CHIEF: WILMA MANKILLER"

Connie S. Stone, 14 November, 00

Background: Evaluating Mankiller: A Chief and Her People for Positioning within the Borderlands of Autobiographical Literature and Effect of Race and Language in that Positioning

Throughout my life, there has been one constant intrigue. That is my interest in and enjoyment of people whose lives lie outside the conventional boundaries of the societal norm. Integral to that interest is the study of autobiographical literature and oral histories that record those lives. Of secondary interest is the causal role of both the race and language of the authors in the positioning of their lives beyond the normative boundaries of autobiography and society.

I particularly wish to explore the autobiography of Wilma Mankiller. Upon first reading the book, some people may classify the text as a history of the Cherokee people because over one half of the book is dedicated to the relating of the events in the tribe’s history with little or no reference to Mankiller’s personal life. In addition, there are thirteen Cherokee ‘myths’ incorporated in the text. The inclusion of so much non-personal information in the text could be construed by some persons as a reason to dispute its categorization as a self-life-writing (autobiography) rather than an historical text. Beyond the placement outside the generally accepted ideal of an autobiography as a story of a personal life, the life of Mankiller itself lies outside many of the norms of American society. The normative figure within American society in the late 20th century is often depicted as a white, middle-class man who fulfills the roles ordered by society. Mankiller is none of those things; she exists beyond these normative boundaries inside the borderlands of society. Her life appears to be one of perpetual motion in and out of marginal areas. She has been poor, working class, and ultimately the highest of classes among the Cherokee. She has been a ‘typical’ wife/mother/woman and yet, she is considered a ‘radical’ by many of her friends and foes because of her politically active stance on American Indian issues. She is a mixture of cultures; by some definitions, this status of a ‘Breed’ would place her at the outermost limits of the borderlands because multiculturalism is a category that sometimes is equated to nothingness.

I wish to evaluate:

  1. The general definitions of autobiography in order to establish the texts viewed outside the definition; a secondary evaluation will be made to ascertain whether the characteristics which place an autobiography outside the domain of accepted literary boundaries also place an individual's life outside the normative boundaries of society.
  2. The factors in the life of Wilma Mankiller which would marginalize her autobiography and her life.
  3. The influence of race (or lack thereof) in the marginalization of Mankiller.
  4. The influence of language in the marginalization of Mankiller.

To make a critical evaluation, I plan to approach the issues by first establishing an acceptable definition against which to assess the status of the book as a marginal text. This will be accomplished through examining some of the definitions offered by Paul John Eakin and other literary critics specializing in the field of autobiographies. Once the placement of the text outside the normative boundaries is established, I will examine Mankiller’s life for the same positioning in the borderlands of society. To explore this, I will look to her placement by her race and her language. It is my personal belief than an unusual life cannot be told in a usual manner; therefore, the unusual qualities of Mankiller’s autobiography mirror Mankiller’s life in the borderlands.

Annotated Bibliography:

Allen, Paula Gunn. “The Sacred Hoop: A Contemporary Perspective.” Native North

American Literary Companion. Eds. Joseph Bruchac and Janet Witalec. Detroit:

Visible Ink P, 1995. 13-34.

Allen discusses the role of language in the Native American nations. Through her own expressive style, she relates that words and language are a primary tool used by Native peoples to maintain their heritage and their culture. She explores the concept of the Sacred Hoop and the placement of each person within that definitive idealism of Native culture. The Hoop is a particularly effective tool for examining Wilma Mankiller’s autobiography because the text itself and Mankiller’s life are expressed in circular fashion, which is different from the usual chronological or linear telling of a life story. By evaluating the role of language in both the telling of the story and in its importance in the life of a Cherokee woman, the method by which Mankiller is marginalized within American and Cherokee societies is investigated.

Eakin, Paul John. How Our Lives Become Stories: Making Selves. Ithaca: Cornell U P,

1999.

In the preface, Eakin says, "I mean to explain in the course of this book why I prefer to think of 'self' less as an entity and more as a kind of awareness in process, a process I have sought to capture in the phrase making selves in my title. We don't, I think, pay much attention to this process, not only because we want to get on with the business of living our lives, but also because identity formation is not available for conscious inspection as it happens" (x). Throughout the book, Eakin continues to explore this process by looking at what he terms registers of self, relational selves, storied selves and finally ethics. The various theories of the formation of self discussed in the first chapter will assist in the definition of the boundaries of autobiography against which the text of the life writing of Wilma Mankiller can be judged regarding its placement outside those boundaries. The theories of relational selves are important in the explanation of the content of the text because Mankiller's sense of identity is determined by her relationship to others. Only when she is known among the people as her grandfather's granddaughter does she seem to become aware of that process of identity Eakin considers in his text. Mankiller literally establishes her connection to Eakin's storied self by including Cherokee stories within the text. These stories demonstrate how her identity is being formed. Finally, Mankiller's book is a highly ethical one for she does no name-calling or finger-pointing against those persons who might be considered by some to be her enemies. Through Eakin, this aspect of her identity can be explored more fully. By applying the thoughts of Eakin to Mankiller's text, I will define the boundaries that Mankiller crosses into the borderlands.

Gilmore, Leigh. "Autobiographics and Naming". Autobiographics: A Feminist Theory of

Women's Self-Representation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1994. 86-105.

Gilmore begins her essay with a discussion of Foucault's statement that proper names "establish relationships between and among things that are not identical" (86-87). Through the example of the name Augustine, she shows how the one name represents many facets of the individual and how the subjectivity of that individual "disappears into the seams created by names running parallel to functions" (87). Citing further examples such as the recoding by the banking industry of a mother's maiden name as a "secret" in order the enforce the "public" authority of the father's name (88) and the identification of Clint Eastwood as an unnamed character who is best defined as simply Eastwood (89), Gilmore illustrates the relevance of names in the society of today. She continues by discussing Sandra Cisneros's use of the name Esperanza in The House on Mango Street as the vehicle in which Cisneros establishes an identity (92-93).

Wilma Mankiller entitles Chapter 1 "Asgaya-dihi". The chapter begins with the statement "Native Americans regard their names not as mere labels, but as essential parts of their personalities. A native person's name is as vital to his or her identity as the eyes or teeth." She continues with "Asgaya-dihi. Mankiller. My Cherokee name in English is Mankiller" (3). This naming of herself precedes even her birth in the text.

Drawing upon Gilmore, the significance of Wilma Mankiller's name will be explored in the placement of herself by the act of naming into the marginal zones of society and autobiographical literature.

Harjo, Joy, et al., Ed. Reinventing the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native

Women’s Writings of North America. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997.

One of the most important events in Wilma Mankiller’s life is an automobile accident, which almost took her life. Her experience in the medical system of America led her to write a short story relating the impersonal, degrading care often imposed upon Native people who have always been treated in a loving, personal manner by Native doctors. This short story, which is discussed briefly by Mankiller in her autobiography, is included in this anthology. Using the short story as an explanation, Mankiller’s feelings of being rejected and mistreated by the medical profession are explored.

Additionally, the issue of language for Native people is discussed by the editors of the anthology in the Introduction. The idea that the appropriation and molding of the language of the Europeans in such a way that it becomes the tool of the Native people employed to maintain and record Indian culture is presented. Exploration of this idea relates well to the study of Mankiller’s English usage in regard to her alienation from the Cherokee-speaking people whom she served as Chief.

Hunsaker, Steven V. Autobiography and National Identity in the Americas. Ed. A.

James Arnold. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1999.

The question to which Hunsaker has sought an answer is “Who am I, and what role does nation play in shaping my identity” (1)? In the Introduction, he has set forth several relevant definitions, including one that discusses the individual’s sense of national identity. He also explores the implication of nation, ethnic community, and autobiographical writings. The text investigates several ideas of interest. In Chapter 1, Hunsaker discusses the testimonio of Rigoberta Menchu in terms of a conflict caused by her hybrid ethnic identity. In Chapter 2, he explores “the role of gender in the creation of national identity” (12). Mankiller’s autobiography can be evaluated through the discussion in Chapter 2 of the narrative of Maria Campbell, who describes herself as a “halfbreed” and “Metis” (36). Chapter 5 deals with choosing national identity. The ideas of hybrid ethnic identity, halfbreed woman, and a choice of national identity are arguably applicable to the life story of Wilma Mankiller. Her stated choice of being a Cherokee automatically places her beyond the norms of American culture. Her father’s influence on her life was a major definer of her as an individual. Although he was Cherokee, his acceptance of the idea of cultural assimilation strongly alters her life so that being a normal American is beyond her ability; the emotions she experiences during the relocation of her family by the Bureau of Indian Affairs seems to form her ideas about her life as a Cherokee.

Krupat, Arnold. Ethnocriticism: Ethnography, History, Literature. Berkeley: U of

California P, 1992.

Krupat defines ethnocriticism as being “concerned with differences rather than oppositions, and so seeks to replace oppositional with dialogical models. … Ethnocritical discourse regards border and boundary crossings, with their openness to and recognition of the inevitability of interactive relations, as perhaps the best means to some broadly descriptive account of the way things really work in the material and historical world” (26). He continues by stating that “the frontier is a culturally defined place (Clifton 24), so, too, will truth likely be – so far as we may know it, whatever it may be in itself – a culturally defined place, a relative truth…” (27). Applying the theories of ethnocriticism to Wilma Mankiller’s autobiography, I will attempt to identify the culturally defined frontier where the truth of Mankiller’s life can be examined. Krupat’s discussion of the “Cherokee perspective in relation to the dominant American discourse of law” (29) discussed in Chapter 4 of the book is particularly relevant because much of Mankiller’s autobiography describes how the making and breaking of laws and treaties affected her people – and thus herself – throughout history. Krupat guides the crossing of borders in order that a better understanding can be achieved.

Lionnet, Francoise. Autobiographical Voices: Race, Gender, Self-Portraiture. Ithaca,

NY: Cornell UP, 1989.

Although most of this book deals with Lionnet's analysis of the writings of Afro-American, Caribbean, and Indian Ocean individuals, the concept of metissage is one that can be readily applied to the autobiography of Wilma Mankiller. Lionnet sets forth a means of evaluating the text as a braiding of the "biology and history, anthropology and philosophy, linguistics and literature" (8) that articulate the life of Mankiller. In particular, Lionnet's discussion of language and the process of transculturation provide a method for assessing the influence of a bilingual home on a woman who not only was Cherokee, but was also Irish-American. It is of particular importance that it be understood that Mankiller's father had been subjected to severe efforts to strip his culture from him and this cultural genocide had a profound effect upon his daughter. Using metissage as a tool, it will perhaps be possible to unbraid the strands of Mankiller's cultural influences in order to more thoroughly evaluate them.

Mankiller, Wilma and Michael Wallis. Mankiller: A Chief and Her People. New York: St.

Martin’s P, 1993.

This is the primary text to be evaluated. In her autobiography, Wilma Pearl Mankiller relates the story of her life beginning in a traditional Native American manner by acknowledging “all Cherokee people past, present, and future, especially the women, who have always tried to keep harmony and balance in our world” (ix). Moving from her acknowledgment, she turns to an explanation of her name and finally to a brief history of the Cherokee. It is not until page 31 of the text that she is born. Her birth is not recorded as an incident of personal significance, but rather as an event in her family. She says, “I was born into the Mankiller household on November 18, 1945, the sixth child of eleven in our family.” In a careful blending of traditional stories, personal stories, and historical data, Mankiller and Wallis record Mankiller’s life through early years, removal by the government to California where Mankiller led what might be considered a ‘normal’ American life, and an awakening of Mankiller’s political consciousness during the siege of Alcatraz Island in 1969. After realizing what was important in her life, Mankiller moves back to Indian Territory and begins working to help the poor Cherokee living in rural areas of Oklahoma. Her work is recognized by the leadership of the Cherokee and she is elected as Deputy Chief to Ross Swimmer, who resigns as Chief in 1985. Mankiller replaces Swimmer as Chief and battles much prejudice in her new role. Two years later, she wins the election as Chief and begins, in earnest, to guide the Cherokees toward a different life.

Wilma Mankiller’s life has been one of diversity. By evaluating her autobiography, I will explore the many segments of a marginal life. I will explore her position in the Borderlands by looking at class, race, and ethnicity. I will also examine the influence of language in that positioning; Mankiller is a bilingual woman, who spoke mostly English in her youth.

Perdue, Theda. Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change 1700-1835. Lincoln: U

of Nebraska P, 1998.

Perdue opens her text by stating “Native American Women exist in the historical shadows. We know little about their lives, how historical events affected them, and the cultural changes that reshaped their world” (3). In a carefully argued book, Perdue examines the roles and responsibilities of Cherokee women during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Perdue begins with historical documentation of the first contacts with the Europeans and studies the reactions of the early Carolinians to the civic roles of the Cherokee women. Quoting Tom Hatley, Perdue demonstrates that the “Carolinians regarded their [the Cherokee women’s] agricultural labor, sexual autonomy, control of children, and other behavior as deviant” (62). Using various legal documents for substantiation, Perdue discusses the importance of property rights of women. She states, “[t]he Cherokee national government’s commitment to the preservation of common title to realty was perhaps the most important way that the early Cherokee republic embodied a feminine ethic in its legal code” (154). The ownership of property by women was another deviation from accepted European traditions. By investigating the history of women’s roles among the Cherokee and the deviance of those roles from European/early American practices, a more thorough understanding of a modern Cherokee woman’s life is gained. Perdue closes her text with a discussion of Wilma Mankiller and Joyce Dugan, both of whom are Cherokee Chiefs in modern times. She concludes “[t]hese women did not become chiefs by succeeding in business or law; they became chiefs because they embodied the values of generations of Cherokee women, values apparently still honored and respected by men and women alike” (195). By viewing the values from an historical perspective, the qualities of Wilma Mankiller can be examined regarding their deviance and position in the margins.

Smith, Sidonie and Julia Watson, eds. Women, Autobiography, Theory: A Reader.