This book provides an introduction to contemporary Native American

literature, focusing throughout on the complex and problematic socio-
political status of contemporary Native Americans as colonised peoples

within a colonial state. Contemporary Native American literature

emerges directly from this imperial relationship, and from the engage-
ment of Native peoples with the legacy of the federal–Indian relationship

within a country that is, paradoxically, both colonial and post-colonial.
Native writing also emerges from dual literary traditions: from the
interactions of individual writers both with the Euro- American literary
heritage and with traditional Indian forms of literature, including oral
storytelling.