Autobiographical stories widely popular since their creation are still one of the primary
ethnographic and historic sources on Native North American individuals. Many books in this
genre including the famous Black Elk Speaks have been translated into numerous languages.
Native American Autobiography Redefined: A Handbook interrogates critical discussions about
Native American autobiographies and challenges their often Eurocentric perspectives: it offers
a new rubric for studying the genre dismantles misperceptions about indigenous peoples and
analyzes in detail a non-biased Native-centered example of writing about Native American
autobiography. This book asks readers to move away from the western cultural notion of
«autobiography» to a Native American cultural perspective of «communal narrative.» Special
emphasis is given to issues of gender bias and to the great disparity between Eastern Woodlands
and western culture's perceptions of women.
