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Retelling Trickster in Naapi's Language
Retelling Trickster in Naapi’s Language is an examination of Nitsitapiisinni (Blackfoot) origin stories about one of the most powerful and unpredictable of the early creators in Niitsitapii consciousness and chronology: Naapi. Through in-depth linguistic analysis, Nimachia Howe reinterprets the earliest references to Naapi, offering a more authentic understanding of his identity and of the meanings and functions of the stories in which he appears.
Naapi is commonly and inaccurately categorized by Western scholars as a trickster figure. Research on him is rife with misnomers and repeated misinterpretations, many resulting from untranslatable terms and concepts, comparisons with the binary tenets of “good” vs. “bad,” and efforts by Niitsitapii storytellers to protect the stories. The five stories included in their entirety in this volume present Naapi’s established models of reciprocity, connection, kinship, reincarnation, and offerings, shown in descriptions of, and predictions for, the balance between life and death, the rising and setting of planets, wind directions and forces, and the cyclical nature of animals, birds, plants, glaciers, and rivers.
Retelling Trickster in Naapi’s Language will be of interest to students and scholars of Native American studies, ethnography, folklore, environmental philosophy, and Indigenous language, literature, and religion.
Naapi is commonly and inaccurately categorized by Western scholars as a trickster figure. Research on him is rife with misnomers and repeated misinterpretations, many resulting from untranslatable terms and concepts, comparisons with the binary tenets of “good” vs. “bad,” and efforts by Niitsitapii storytellers to protect the stories. The five stories included in their entirety in this volume present Naapi’s established models of reciprocity, connection, kinship, reincarnation, and offerings, shown in descriptions of, and predictions for, the balance between life and death, the rising and setting of planets, wind directions and forces, and the cyclical nature of animals, birds, plants, glaciers, and rivers.
Retelling Trickster in Naapi’s Language will be of interest to students and scholars of Native American studies, ethnography, folklore, environmental philosophy, and Indigenous language, literature, and religion.
176 pages, Hardcover
Published October 18, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 21, 2021
This book was so good. Not only do I get to learn about the Blackfeet trickster figure, I get to learn about it through the lens of language. Here's some of what I learned.
English can’t convey the relationship between person and place but the Blackfoot language can. (page 12)
Energy, like thunderstorms, and beings, like rocks, aren’t so much anthropomorphized as they do achieve “animacy” to talk to humans with human-like qualities. (12)
This results in an interconnectedness between humans and all other things in the natural world...or so it sounds to me.
An example of another difference between English and Blackfoot, the wind comes from a direction in English while it goes to a direction in Blackfoot. (14)
“The signs employed are very expressive, and usually convey an idea so clearly that no explanation is needed, even by one who has never seen them before. (18)
Part of why the Blackfoot language can describe people in relation to where they are in stories is because they used sign language: Plains Sign Language. (PSL)
PSL was taught by the “Sky Realm Beings (e.g. Sun, Moon, and Stars) (18)
When stars twinkle that’s them trying to communicate.
On pages 20-23, we’re given a picture of what the different types of a coyote’s (the animal) say about their state of mind and what they’re physically doing. Which means that tracking can be seen as a form of reading what the animal is talking about. (20-23)
“Depending on the record, Naapi is not exactly a noun, verb, or adjective; he defies the classificatory rigidity these terms impose on his ability to transfer energy, which has its source in an animate universe.” (42)
“Blackfoot grammar allows listeners to be participants in the stories action.” (76)
Naapi storytellers switch 1st PoV among all involved, humans, plants, animals, rocks, Naapi, so that the stories help the listeners to see other people’s PoVs. (84)
English can’t convey the relationship between person and place but the Blackfoot language can. (page 12)
Energy, like thunderstorms, and beings, like rocks, aren’t so much anthropomorphized as they do achieve “animacy” to talk to humans with human-like qualities. (12)
This results in an interconnectedness between humans and all other things in the natural world...or so it sounds to me.
An example of another difference between English and Blackfoot, the wind comes from a direction in English while it goes to a direction in Blackfoot. (14)
“The signs employed are very expressive, and usually convey an idea so clearly that no explanation is needed, even by one who has never seen them before. (18)
Part of why the Blackfoot language can describe people in relation to where they are in stories is because they used sign language: Plains Sign Language. (PSL)
PSL was taught by the “Sky Realm Beings (e.g. Sun, Moon, and Stars) (18)
When stars twinkle that’s them trying to communicate.
On pages 20-23, we’re given a picture of what the different types of a coyote’s (the animal) say about their state of mind and what they’re physically doing. Which means that tracking can be seen as a form of reading what the animal is talking about. (20-23)
“Depending on the record, Naapi is not exactly a noun, verb, or adjective; he defies the classificatory rigidity these terms impose on his ability to transfer energy, which has its source in an animate universe.” (42)
“Blackfoot grammar allows listeners to be participants in the stories action.” (76)
Naapi storytellers switch 1st PoV among all involved, humans, plants, animals, rocks, Naapi, so that the stories help the listeners to see other people’s PoVs. (84)
November 11, 2020
Full disclosure. This is by my sister. With that said, she's spent decades living on the rez and doing research and writing. This is real scholarship.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews