Arnold Krupat, one of the most original and respected critics working in
Native American studies today, offers a clear and compelling set of
reasons why red--Native American culture, history, and
literature--should matter to Americans more than it has to date.
Although there exists a growing body of criticism demonstrating the
importance of Native American literature in its own right and in
relation to other ethnic and minority literatures, Native materials
still have not been accorded the full attention they require. Krupat
argues that it is simply not possible to understand the ethical and
intellectual heritage of the West without engaging America's treatment
of its indigenous peoples and their extraordinary and resilient
responses.
Criticism of Native literature in its current development, Krupat
suggests, operates from one of three critical perspectives against
colonialism that he calls nationalism, indigenism, and cosmopolitanism.
Nationalist critics are foremost concerned with tribal sovereignty,
indigenist critics focus on non-Western modes of knowledge, and
cosmopolitan critics wish to look elsewhere for comparative
possibilities. Krupat persuasively contends that all three critical
perspectives can work in a complementary rather than an oppositional
fashion.
A work marked by theoretical sophistication, wide learning, and social
passion, Red Matters is a major contribution to the imperative effort
of understanding the indigenous presence on the American continents.
