The Plateau Center for Native American Programs at Washington State University (WSU) and WSU Press will host three authors on Friday, May 15, at 2 p.m., in the Anthropology Museum located in College Hall on the Pullman campus. The hour-long program will include readings as well as a question and answer session, and is free and open to everyone. Discounted books will be on sale for those interested.
The authors, Richard Scheuerman, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Seattle Pacific University, Clifford Trafzer, the Distinguished Professor of History and Costo Chair in Native American studies at the University of California-Riverside, and Carrie Jim Schuster, a descendant of Mary Jim who was one of the book’s featured elders, are celebrating the release of River Song, a new collection of Native American oral histories published by WSU Press.
Denied a place on their ancestral lands, the original Snake River-Palouse people were forced to scatter. Maintaining their cultural identity became increasingly difficult. Still, elders continued to pass down oral histories.
Beginning in the 1970s and continuing over three decades, Naxiyamtáma elders-in particular Mary Jim, Andrew George, Gordon Fisher, and Emily Peone-shared their stories with a research team. They hoped to teach American Indian history in a traditional manner and refute incorrect versions. In the process, multiple themes emerged-a pervasive spirituality tied to the Creator and environment, a covenant relationship and sacred trust to protect and preserve their traditional lands, storytelling as a revered art form that reveals life lessons, and belief in cyclical time and blood memory.
The contributing elders had ties to Plateau people’s leadership families and had lived in the traditional way. They participated in the ancient Wáshani religion and honored the Creator through First Food ceremonies. River Song: Naxiyamtáma (Snake River-Palouse) Oral Traditions from Mary Jim, Andrew George, Gordon Fisher, and Emily Peone endeavors to capture those elders’ original voices and remain true to Snake River-Palouse oral traditions. Their retelling offers regional creation stories like “Why Coyote Made the Palouse Hills” and “The Origin of Palouse Falls,” as well as other narratives-all with a distinct Naxiyamtáma perspective.
WSU Press titles are available nationwide through bookstores, online at wsupress.wsu.edu, or by phone at 800-354-7360. WSU Press publishes books with a cultural or historical relationship to the Pacific Northwest.
