Abstract

My application of trauma theory to a systematic reading of contemporary American Indian narrative poetry addresses the way in which this body of narrative constructs trauma both a subject and vehicle, moving discussions of trauma theory from primarily psychological realms to include aesthetics and politics. The writers examined here represent trauma by mimicking its forms and symptoms while they also work through trauma by creating coherent narratives that both contain and rescript traumatic events. Chapter One presents the historical and theoretical background for the dissertation. I formulate a theory of trauma specifically applicable to this body of poetry, drawing on the work of leading theorists. Chapter Two analyzes six poems that illustrate the Native psyche in pain, suffering both from inherited traumas as well as the ongoing presence of colonization in Native America. Chapter Three moves into a study of poetry that reassembles narrative into a coherent, cohesive structure. I examine two poems by Luci Tapahonso in terms of how they draw on traditional Navajo songs and chants to create health and wholeness, and also in terms of how they contain and draw on traditional tribal narratives to survive and to heal trauma. Chapter Four analyzes three poems by Simon Ortiz, who draws on the story of tribal land to reconstruct Native identity in wholeness and health. He reassembles a complete, even exhaustive narrative of the history of Acoma Pueblo tribal space in an effort to heal the narrators and characters in his poems, and to serve as an example for other tribal peoples. Chapter Five offers readings of two of Joy Harjo's poems in an effort to create new stories from the old, which bring with them into new forms of poetic narrative the generative and healing power of sacred myth. Chapter Six posits future directions to take in both the reading and the writing of contemporary American Indian poetry. I conclude that ethical readings of the poems by their audience is a required step in the healing process.