Many moons ago (Fall of last year), I took a course in Native American Religions at UMW. It was one of my favorite courses that I’ve taken so far because it forced me to look at a group of that “fourth world”/”diaspora” that Tyson mentions in the chapter about Postcolonial Analysis from a non-Eurocentric perspective.

Take, for example, Black Elk. A quick, dirty summary: Black Elk was a member of the Lakota Sioux tribe, and he experienced a vision quest that redefined the spiritual guidelines of most of his tribe. In the book Black Elk Speaks, John Neihardt interviews Black Elk and retells the narrative of Black Elk’s existential vision quest. The printed version of Black Elk’s vision quest, written by Neihardt, has become a cornerstone of Lakota Sioux spirituality.

Black Elk Speaks, in many ways, furthers the “noble savage” stereotype. It is also potentially ripe with Eurocentric bias, having been written and edited by white men. There’s no way to know whether the material printed in the book was genuine, or if it was fictionally embellished with stories of visions and spiritual harmony, objectifying and commercializing a culture. Either way, the story told in Black Elk Speaks became a foundational aspect of Lakota Sioux spirituality after the book was published in 1932. I ask, how is this problematic? In many ways, I struggle with the issue of authenticity because it seems very unauthentic. There is no sense of “reclaiming the precolonial past,” as Tyson puts it. All cultural aspects were irrevocably affected by the American imperialism.

How does a culture regain its sense of identity and self after colonialism? How do you all feel about this idea of authenticity–where else might we find examples similar to this? At this point, do they actually need authenticity? Is it important for these postcolonial societies to develop their own authentic (or maybe not authentic) sense of identity, to evade the plague of double consciousness, to reclaim the dignity they were stripped of when the Wasichu white devils dislocated them from their homes, languages, and spiritual ties? Later in his life, Black Elk converted to Catholocism and joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show–does that somehow corrupt our trust for him and his authenticity? Maybe I’m just rambling now, but….. WHAT DOES AUTHENTICITY EVEN MEAN ANYMORE?!

I think these are all important things to consider as we look more into postcolonial study!