Louise Erdrich's   The Bingo Palace

For biographical and bibliographical information about Erdrich, take a look at the NativeWiki page for her.  Other helpful resources are the  Internet Public Library page on her, as well as the Voices from the Gaps website at the University of Minnesota.   The Modern American Poetry site also has some useful pages about Erdrich as poet and as fiction writer.

 

There are several short interviews with Erdrich on the web that you may find interesting:

a 1996 interview in Salon, an on-line magazine
a 2002 interview from the Progressive

a 2005 audio interview from NPR's Weekend Edition (click on the audio symbol to begin listening)
 

Ojibwe history and culture is the focus of several useful websites:

Lee Sultzman, Ojibwe History
"Native Languages of the Americas: Chippewa," with lots of links to other cultural and historical sites

Ojibwemowin.com has a helpful "Learn Ojibwe" page

Erdrich is Turtle Mountain Chippewa.  You can  visit the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Indian Heritage Center on the web to learn about crafts, traditions, and cultural background of the Turtle Mountain Band.  Professor Laura Arnold's page on Erdrich from Reed College emphasizes links to Chippewa culture.  (She also has a guide to Erdrich's The Bingo Palace on-line.)

 Erdrich's character Gerry Nanapush is in part modeled on Leonard Peltier. In fact, in 2001, Erdrich wrote an op-ed piece that was published in the New York Times and other newspapers, arguing that Peltier should be pardoned: "Leonard Peltier has paid enough," ran the title. You can find out about the events that led to Peltier's imprisonment and the continuing controversy surrounding his case in a fairly even-handed Wikipedia article.  A website supporting Peltier's bid for freedom has a nice overview of his roles as an activist, artist, humanitarian, and writer.

Shawnee Ray Toose is talented not only at sewing and designing but at dancing.  You can learn a lot about  powwows and the kinds of traditional dress and dances that are typical for powwows at the Gathering of Nations website, which includes some wonderful photos.  See also the website for the video we will see in class: Waćipi PowWow.

The Turtle Mountain Chippewa have opened Sky Dancer Hotel and Casino in Belcourt, North Dakota, for economic development purposes.  There's a good deal of controversy about the development of casinos across Native America. The National Indian Gaming Association has a page listing Indian gaming facts and a cluster of useful articles on Indian gambling/gaming.  And Kathryn Gabriel, who has written a book (now out of print) called Gambler Way, has an interesting on-line essay titled "Gambling and Spirituality: A New Anthropological Perspective."
 

        This page was last updated on 29 October 2008.  Send questions/comments to Nancy J. Peterson.