The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

by Paula Gunn Allen

Book Overview

This pioneering work, first published in 1986, documents the continuing vitality of American Indian traditions and the crucial role of women in those traditions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807046175
• ISBN13: 9780807046173
• Release Date: September 1992
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Very Pleased

I am very pleased with my order. The book was in excellent condition and was swiftly delivered. Thanks!

a white feminist finds eye-opening

This white feminist found The Sacred Hoop eye-opening and mind-expanding. While I cannot presume to be able to truly understand tribal thinking, I nonetheless found the concepts and philosophies described here to be completely pertinent to my place in existence. I am struggling to realize my place in a multifaced, complex web-world and have never felt comfortable with the typical feminist need to stand out in the foreground. It is also very empowering to see that there have been many versions of woman-based cultures. Unlike those in Crete, for example, tribal cultures were fully functioning in North America less than 500 years ago! It is unfortunate (though not at all surprising, given the difficulty of writing about concepts in the language of the patriarchy) that this gospel of hope and renewal is not reaching many, many people--especially our young people in colleges and universities. Don't take this wrong, Paula Gunn Allen, but you go, girl!

Valuable but annoying.

Being a white male (although one who's interested in Native American literature) certainly influenced my reaction to this book. That said, I think it's invaluable reading--probably a "must read" for those really interested in the field of Native American studies. I found it extremely interesting and useful. I also found it unsettling and even offensive in places. In spite of attacking white culture for reducing everything to ethnocentric formulas (a point she illustrates very persuasively), Allen seems to me to do the same thing throughout the book. While criticizing white academics for robbing Native Americans of thier complexity as individuals, she tends to see every possible issue through a polarized perspective--Native American=Good, White culture=bad. Doesn't this, in fact, rob Native Americans of their complexity as individuals and lead to the very romanticizing that Allen objects to?Still, as irritating as I find this reductive way of arguing, I have to admit that this is a very valuable book.

Simply Brilliant

As a young American Indian woman, reading PGA's book was like finding my own personal bible. Finally, someone who was telling me the same things about myself that my mother had taught me. Excellent chapters like "The Red Roots of White Feminism" and "When Strong Women Throw Down Bundles" are not to be missed. PGA your my shimasaani!