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Practicing Sovereignty in Greg Sarris's Watermelon Nights by Dyck, Reginald is a Arts and Humanities article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Practicing Sovereignty in Greg Sarris's Watermelon Nights about?

In 1998, when Watermelon Nights was first published, the Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok people were concluding a decade-long struggle to regain federal recognition. Their tribal status had been illegally terminated through the California Rancheria Act of 1958. 1 In the midst of this campaign, tribal chairman Greg Sarris (Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria) created a fictional account of the community's efforts to exercise its sovereignty. 2 In depicting the tribe's challenges, Watermelon Nights addresses one of the central issues confronting indigenous peoples today. Sarris's narrative offers readers the opportunity to assess the arguments activists and scholars are making. In turn, their arguments sharpen our understanding of the challenges Sarris's characters face in putting their tribal sovereignty into practice. Framing Watermelon Nights with two tribal meetings, Sarris uses the first to set up the conflicts to be overcome. The second, anticipated meeting suggests the hope that is gained in the intervening two months, symbolized by a night of watermelon eating. Between these events, the novel depicts three generations of tribal history intertwined with the personal experience

Who reads Practicing Sovereignty in Greg Sarris's Watermelon Nights?

Author

Dyck, Reginald

Publisher

Project MUSE; Western Literature Association (ISSN 1948-7142)

Published

2011

Language

EN

Field

Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)