The Road Back to Sweetgrass
A Novel
Minneapolis ; London : University of Minnesota Press, [2014]
Format: Book
Description: 194 pages ; 22 cm
Set in northern Minnesota during the days of the federal termination policy and the struggle for tribal self-determination, this novel follows Dale Ann, Theresa, and Margie, a trio of American Indian women, from the 1970s to the present, observing their coming of age and the intersection of their lives as they navigate love, economic hardship, loss, and changing family dynamics on the fictional Mozhay Point reservation. As young women, all three leave their homes. Margie and Theresa go to Duluth for college and work. There, Theresa gets to know a handsome Indian boy, Michael Washington, who invites her home to the Sweetgrass land allotment to meet his father, Zho Wash, who lives in the original allotment cabin. When Margie accompanies her, complicated relationships are set into motion, and tensions over "real Indian-ness" emerge. Dale Ann, Margie, and Theresa find themselves pulled back again and again to the Sweetgrass allotment, a silent but ever-present entity in the book. Sweetgrass itself is a plant used in the Ojibwe ceremonial odissimaa bag, containing a newborn baby's umbilical cord. Zho Wash tells the story of the first days of the allotment, when the Wazhushkag, or Muskrat, family became transformed into the Washingtons by the pen of a federal Indian agent.
Contents:
The odissimaa bag -- Bezhig : the frybread makers. The power of frybread ; In her dream, Margie ; The art of dressing a rabbit -- Niizh : termination days. Shades of Through the looking glass ; The veil in the jar -- Nisswi : the wild ricers. Margie-enjiss ; Animoosh ; The ar-bee-see -- Niiwi : Migwechiwendam. Enchanted Agwaching ; The occasional scent of sweetgrass.
Subjects:
Andrae, A.
Indian women -- North America -- Fiction.
Indians of North America -- Social conditions -- Fiction.
Indian reservations -- Fiction.
Ojibwa Indians -- Fiction.
Minnesota -- Fiction.
Andrae, A.
Indian women -- North America -- Fiction.
Indians of North America -- Social conditions -- Fiction.
Indian reservations -- Fiction.
Ojibwa Indians -- Fiction.
Minnesota -- Fiction.
ISBN:
9780816692699
Availability | |||
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Call Number | Location | Shelf Location | Status |
F Grover | Ballentine Indoors | Fiction | In |