Monday, April 13 — Indigenous Poetics via Jerome Rothenberg

On Monday we'll spend an entire class considering the work of Jerome Rothenberg, primarily through his role as a cultural anthropologist and archivist of Native American poetic traditions, but we'll also look at a little of his own poetry inspired by his proximity to the Seneca Nation.

It's impossible to understate Rothenberg's importance as, for all intents and purposes, the inaugurator of the field of Ethnopoetics, through groundbreaking anthologies including Technicians of the Sacred: A Range of Poetries from Africa, America, Asia and Oceania (1968) and Shaking the Pumpkin: Traditional Poetry of the Indian North Americas (1972) — from which most of our readings today will be drawn — continuing to the brand-new Barbaric Vast and Wild: An Assemblage of Outside and Subterranean Poetry from Origins to Present.

Part of the innovation in Rothenberg's approach is that he treated his subjects with the utmost respect, immersing himself within the cultural traditions under consideration, rather than engaging in cultural tourism. He sought to undertake, as David Noriega observes, "a method of translation that would encompass more than just the poetic content and structure of the songs," including their "intricate and polyphonic arrangement of voices, images, and 'pure' sounds." As he notes on the back cover of Shaking the Pumpkin: "I am not doing this for the sake of curiosity, but I have smoked a pipe to the powers from whom these songs came, and I ask them not to be offended with me for signing these songs which belong to them."

As part of this dedication, Rothenberg moved to the Allegheny Seneca Reservation in 1972, where he studied under Richard Johnny John, "one of the leading singers and makers-of-songs at the Allegany (Seneca) Reservation in western New York State, descended from singers ... very important in their own time." In A Seneca Journal (1978) we see firsthand the influence this experience had upon Rothenberg's own poetry.

Three Friendly Warnings (1973), Richard Johnny John, Jerome Rothenberg, Ian Tyson (click to enlarge).

Native American Poetries and Songs: [PDF] (MP3 selections below)

• 12 Songs to Welcome the Society of Mystic Animals [MP3]
• Shaking the Pumpkin [MP3] (includes "A Song of My Song, in Three Parts," "Caw Caw the Crows Caw Caw," "The Owl," "Three Ways to Screw Up on Your Way to the Doings Three Ways," among others)
• the Thirteenth Horse Song of Frank Mitchell [MP3]

from A Seneca Journal: [PDF]

• Seneca Journal 1: "A Poem of Beavers" [MP3]
• Old Man Beaver's Blessing Song [MP3][MP3]

more from Shaking the Pumpkin: [PDF]

• Gift Event (from the Kwakiutl) [MP3]
• Crazy Dog Events [MP3]

If you're interested in learning more about Rothenberg's "total translations" of Navajo horse songs, here's an article on the Poetry Foundation's website: [link]. Rothenberg's three-part interview with Richard Johnny John can be found here and here. These last resources are entirely supplemental, and not required for Monday.