UNITY WITH NATURE, UNITY THROUGH NATURE: THE CONNECTION OF NATURE AND MANKIND IN SIMON J.

ORTIZS OUT THERE SOMEWHERE

Dora LaCasse Professor David Moore LIT 420 December 14, 2010

LaCasse 2 In his collection Somewhere Out There, author Simon J. Ortiz presents the reader with a rich and complex examination of the connections between personal identity, community, and nature. As a member of the Acoma tribe of New Mexico, Ortiz explores the web of relationships between nature, community, and the individual within the context of a Native American worldview. Throughout the collection, Ortiz references his connection to the natural world, cataloging a wide range of associations and interactions that gradually amass to convey a unique relationship between him and nature. The Native American relationship between mankind and nature that operates within Out There Somewhere is characterized by equality, reciprocity and unity, and intentionally juxtaposes itself against the prevalent western portrayal of the human and nature relationship, which is characterized by domination, submission, and division. Because Ortiz is able to dissolve the division between nature and culture, incorporating one into the other, he is therefore able to connect with his culture and community through the medium of nature as a means to reassert communal identity, a forum for communication with his community, and a permanent record of his cultures history Ortiz, as an author, develops a distinctive stance on the connective quality of the relationship between himself and nature, which he further attributes to the entire canon of Native American literature. I do think that there is a visionary quality in Native American literature that has to do with insistence that we as human beings have something to do with the ground we walk on. In other words, there is a connection that we have (Manley 368). Native American literature insists, according to Ortiz, on the inherent connection between the land and mankind, and his writing is no exception. This

LaCasse 3 is a characteristic that Ortiz sees as missing from the bulk of American writing. Often times I think that the Western tradition, especially the Western intellectual tradition, scholasticism, removes us and breaks the connection (Manley and Rea 368). This rupture common in the Western literary cannon is remedied in much of Native American literature by saying that I am a person, the quality I have as a person has to do with the quality of the Rocky Mountains. In that sense [Native American literature] is visionary and I think thats important to stress (Manley and Rea 368). Native American literature, then, is able to portray a relationship with nature that is distinct from the traditional western perception. Ortiz is reacting to the Western tendency to separate humans from the natural world, which is further explained by Lynn White in his essay Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis. White elaborates upon this division and introduces the theme of dominance and submission, explaining how occidental technological progress and the Christian tradition from which our culture has evolved set up a specific relationship of dominance in relation to nature that pervades American mainstream perceptions of nature to this day. With regard to technology, White asserts that upon the invention of a plow with the capacity to till more land than one family would need, the distribution of land was based no longer on the needs of the family, but, rather, on the capacity of a power machine to till the earth. Mans relation to the soil was profoundly changed. Formerly man had been part of nature; now he was the exploiter of nature (8). The introduction of more advanced technology, according to White, drove a wedge between nature and humanity that characterizes western views of nature today.

LaCasse 4 White further argues that Christianity, the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen, further contributes to the western tendency to distance and dominate nature (White 9). For instance, in the Christian creation story Man named all the animals, thus establishing his dominance over them. God planned all of this specifically for mans benefit and rule: no item in the physical creation had any purpose save to serve mans purposes. And, although mans body is made of clay, he is not simply a part of nature: he is made in gods image [Christianity] not only established a dualism of man and nature but also insisted that it is Gods will that man exploit nature for his proper ends. (9-10) According to White, Christianity affords mankind the right to define the natural world and claim possession of it. Additionally, man can use nature to any extent he sees fit with no sense of responsibility or need to use discretion. Lastly, though man is made of natural material, he is a completely separate entity from nature, sharing no real link or sense of shared identity with nature. I do not wish to be too simplistic in my representation of the Western relationship between man and nature, and it is important to note that it would be impossible and incorrect to place all western inhabitants and their relationships with the natural world into the category created by Whites description. However, it is also impossible to deny the prevalence of this separate, dominant relationship with nature in the western world, which is voiced not only by White, but echoed by other authors and academics in a variety of fields. Tim Cresswell writes that Place is how we make the world meaningful and how we experience the world. Place, at a basic level, is space invested with meaning

LaCasse 5 in the context of power (12). Here we see the same hierarchical relationship characterized by dominance that White addresses. In Western society, land gains meaning through the power we assert over it. In the preface to the book Approaching Human Geography, the authors introduce David Harveys idea of geographical imagination. A problem still arises for Western society because this [geographical] imagination is not all that deeply held or widespread Few of us appreciate the extent to which our lives in contemporary society are shaped by the geography of its component parts (Cloke, Philo, and Sadler vii-viii). This passage clearly illustrates the separation of man and nature that Native American literature works to counter, according to Ortiz, who states land is who we are, land is our identity, land is home place, land is sacred (Manley and Rea 365). Clearly, this inclusive view of land contradicts the sense of separation that White attributes to western culture, a point of view that is the prevailing perspective of nature in America. Ortiz uses this perspective as a foil to strengthen his own presentation of the connection between nature and mankind. I think a positive factor of Americanism, so to speak, is our insistence on being Indian within this American cultural context (Manley and Rea 366). Indeed, in Out There Somewhere Ortiz works directly against this occidental view of the relationship between mankind and nature. He provides many examples that counter the way in which man dominates and sets himself apart from nature, instead presenting a relationship of equality by writing poetry of mutual ownership, mutual compensation, and shared identity between mankind and nature. The collection establishes a very basic equality between Native community and nature. In the poem In the Moment Before, the pair of lines The land, the way of life,

LaCasse 6 the community/ Ours. Our own. Our heart, blood, soul clearly demonstrate this equality (21). Land, way of life, and community compose a list of equals. The absence of conjunctions between the three entities defies our tendency to create a relationship of power between the three, and instead the reader must take them as three equal parts of the line. The following line further underscores their equality, as three ways of conveying the same idea are presented in an identical structure to the preceding line. The unmistakable equality of the elements within the second line helps to confirm the equality of the preceding lines elements. Ortiz uses the same technique in Your Life you are Carrying. The pair of lines Land you are carrying./ Your life you are carrying, have an identical structure, with only one differing element (91). Land and human life, therefore, are given equal value and are equated with each other. These simple equalities provide a foundation for Ortiz to further subvert the western separation and domination of nature. A more complex way that Ortiz establishes equality between himself and nature is through mutual ownership. He both claims nature as his property and attributes himself and his community to nature. In this manner, he creates a relationship in which no one entity is dominant and each constitutes a part of the other. This is the dirt/ This is the land./ This is ours./ This is our land (90). Here, the speaker very clearly takes possession of the land and claims it as his or her own. This could be seen as an assertion of power over nature if not for the explicit surrender of self to the natural world that is seen in other parts of the collection. The song surrounded me in the world of that dawn. It wove me into the universe of mountains, plains, oceans, skies, galaxies all around, all the plant

LaCasse 7 and animal world we know and dont know It took my life into a dimension not mine anymore but was the song of a world that could only belong to Earth the Mother. (73) Nature is presented as the dominant entity in these lines, and easily takes possession of the speaker, incorporating him into itself. This directly opposes the occidental ideal that man and nature are two things, and man is master (White 8). Because the human faction and the natural faction of this relationship have the same ability to posses the other, Ortiz creates a balance between the two, eliminating the possibility for entity to maintain dominance over the other. Recognition of debt to nature is another tool Ortiz uses to deconstruct the hierarchy of man and nature. While White underscores exploitation of nature with no acknowledgement of the necessity of nature is our existence and development, Ortiz recognizes natures various contributions to his life and formation. The first and most basic of these contributions emphasized by Ortiz, which is obvious but nonetheless absent from the western view of nature put forth by White, is our complete dependence on nature for our continued existence. Turning again to the poem Your Life you are Carrying. The reader sees that the land is equated with life. Land you are carrying./ Your life you are carrying (91). Without the land there is no life, and Ortiz recognizes this unavoidable fact again and again. In speaking of Earth, Ortiz does not write about his ability to exploit nature, but rather refers to the planet as Earth the Mother which is the Creation/ and Existence of All Things (73). He does not emphasize the benefits that he, as a human separate from nature is able to take from the land but instead recognizes

LaCasse 8 that his existence is completely dependent and nature and in this dependency exists a debt to nature. For Ortiz, Natures contributions to his existence do not end at its permittance of life. Nature also enables the formation and development of an artist. Throughout the collection, natural place facilitates the growth of the artist, which is a common theme in American art, according to Hertha Wong. In her essay Native American Visual Autobiography: Figuring Place, Subjectivity, and History, she asserts her belief that for many contemporary Native American writers and artists, subjectivity cannot be known without positioning oneself in relation to place(s) (148). Wong analyzes the works of contemporary Native artists, and discovers that placeand more specifically natural settingis incorporated into almost all of their work because of its undeniable role in their formation as and artist. As Ortiz states, the quality I have as a person has to do with the quality of the Rocky Mountains (Manley and Rea 368). As a writer, artistic expression is certainly a quality that he possesses, and he directly connects this quality with the quality of the land. The natural environment has facilitated his artistic development, and he recognizes this invaluable contribution throughout his collection. Ortiz presents several facets of natures role in the process of personal, subjective expression, the first of which is direction. Keith Basso, in reflecting on his work with the Western Apaches, writes, places have a marked capacity for triggering acts of selfreflection, inspiring thoughts about who one presently is, or memories of who one used to be, or musings on who one might become (55). Natural place fulfils this very role in the four-part poem Seed, which tracks loss of ability to express, a search, and the rediscovery of expression. After renouncing his role as poet and teacher, the speaker

LaCasse 9 goes to Elk River. Unsteadily he was the angle of water turning./ Unsteadily he was turning but now he was meaning to turn (25). As he sits by the river and reflects on his life and himself, the flow of the water allows him to reorient himself and choose a new direction to follow. The river does not force him to turn, as no one turns without meaning to, but rather it provides a space where he can consider his position and orient himself (25). He reached his hand toward the current/ shifting everything away, and he did not want to know/ the seed that stood before his eyes as a tiny monument/ of new life, the beginning that would blossom by his seeing (26). As the speaker sits by the river in contemplation, he is able to shift everything away, perhaps everything that is preventing him from expressing himself. In this shift, he finds a seed that he can once again make blossom, therefore rediscovering his ability to express, since The mind that made the seed bloom was always the poet (24). Through nature, the speaker redirects his thoughts and life in order to recapture personal expression, which is essential in the formation of identity. The natural environment not only provides direction in the creative process, but also provides an open space, an area of freedom where artistic creation can be unfettered. It doesnt do any good just to hang around feeling shitty. Yet thats what I was doing all day long. And nothing to show for it. Nothing. So I decided to go to the beach. Watch the sunset. Where is the poetry? At the beach. Who took it there? Its always been there.

LaCasse 10 Just there? Yeah, just there. .............. Hold out your hand, I say to Cynthia. When I walk up holding out folded sheets of paper. And the stones and shells in my hand. receive whats real. Art. Stones. Shells. (7-8) Inside the treatment center where the speaker has remained all day, he creates nothing, and decides to go outside into nature at the end of the day, where he finds a poetic space in which he is able to create. The poetic quality of the beach has always been there, it was not created and brought to the natural space by mankind. The result of the speakers presence on the beach is poetry, which he was not able to create inside the treatment center. The artistic space the beach provides for the speaker is another aspect of natures contribution to the formation of man that Ortiz celebrates and traditional western tradition seems to negate. In identifying these contributions nature makes to mans existence, Ortiz acknowledges a debt to nature that he attempts to repay, once again establishing humans and nature as equal members of a reciprocal relationship. Marking my own stricken yet struggling word, I owe something/ to the Earth Our Mother. Let my debt be without loss;/ let it be with song, joyous, affirmed, loving (68). The speaker acknowledges his debt to Earth Our Mother, which creates and sustains mankind. He offers a payment that he sees as satisfactory in an attempt to repay all that nature has given him. For Ortiz, the value of nature is much more complex than the monetary gain that it provides. Nature is

LaCasse 11 not a resource to be used without discretion, but rather the creator who should be treated with reverence, used with respect, and compensated accordingly It may be helpful at this point to briefly revisit Whites essay after such a long exploration of natures many contributions to the existence and formation of humankind, which seems to depart drastically from the subject matter of Whites argument. This seeming departure is due to the complete absence of these contributions in Whites explanation of the prevailing western relationship with nature, but their omission is significant. In Whites essay, nature is not characterized as a source of life and existence, but only as a resource for man to exploit. God planned all of this specifically for mans benefit and rule: no item in the physical creation had any purpose save to serve mans purposes (White 9). Therefore, Ortizs overt discussion natures indispensable role in his existence and formation, the debt to nature he feels as a result, and his attempt to repay this debt continues to work in opposition to the relationship laid out in Whites essay. We have seen Ortizs alternative to the domination of nature and the exploitation with no compensation common in western tradition, but perhaps the most striking opposition to this relationship that he offers is his negation of absolute division between man and nature described in Whites essay. Man and nature are two things, and man is master (White 8). Ortiz rejects this western tendency, instead carefully drawing connections between these two entities, eventually integrating one into the other. Keith Basso once again relates a conclusion he has come to in working with Western Apache that supports this complete connection of human identity with natural place. Selfhood and placehood are completely intertwined. Having developed apace together, they are

LaCasse 12 positive expressions of each other, opposite sides of the same rare coin (86). Ortiz certainly binds these two entities together inseparably, and one way he integrates nature into human identity is by defining and naming himself in the context of nature and place. Hihdruutsi. I am of the Eagle people. Aacqu is my home. . . . . . . . . .

That is the way therefore I regard myself. I cannot be any other way or person. (95) Giving his Acoma name, Ortiz constructs his identity using a natural framework, incorporating a wild animal and his home into his self-definition. These elements of the natural world are absolutely indispensable to his sense of self, he cannot be any other way. Again in Just Call it Smiling for Victory, Ortiz incorporates nature into the basic identity of a baby. In discussing her name, her father says She was born at home, Big Mountain./ Her father smiles./ Big Mountain Woman. I say (155). The natural environment becomes a completely integrated part of the childs identity as a human being. Welcoming nature into human identity and celebrating its inclusion further reinforces a kinship that works against a separation of mankind and nature. Ortiz goes a step further in combining nature and mankind into a single entity. In addition to inviting the natural world into humanity, he extends himself into nature. Looking North seeing Kaweshtima,/ the strong mountain is a prayer/ And now it prays its being with me./ And now I share my being with it (86). The mountain Kaweshtima reaches out to the speaker, and the speaker responds in kind, an act which

LaCasse 13 begins to unify man and nature and erases any separation. In Culture and the Universe, Ortiz completes this process, melding these two entities into a single unified being. Lean into me. The universe sings in quiet meditation. We are wordless: I am in you. Without knowing why culture needs our knowledge, we are one self in the canyon. (104) The interaction in this passage between culture and the universe, underscored by the title of the poem, indeed completely fuses mankind and the natural world, erasing any division between the two and joining them into one self. By allowing nature and humankind to bleed together and meld their beings with one another, Ortiz completely deconstructs the false binary constructed by the western perspective described by White. It is interesting to note that White cites Christianity as the foundation for the divided, hierarchical view of nature culture relations in the western world, and that Ortiz also uses spirituality to explain the powerful connection between his community and the natural world. In Kaweshtima Sharing its Existence with me and me Sharing my Existence with Kaweshtima, Ortiz uses the term prayer to designate the melding of his being with that of Kaweshtima, which is significant. While Christianity provides a means by which man separates himself from and asserts power over nature, Acoma spirituality facilitates the combination of these two entities. Spirituality also provides the

LaCasse 14 means by which the speaker in Our Children will not be Afraid repays his debt to nature. In his interview with Manley and Rea, Ortiz states song is poetry is prayer (367). Therefore the song, joyous, affirmed, loving that the speaker offers to Mother Earth as compensation for all she has given him is in fact a prayer (68). There are numerous other examples of prayers and songs of nature throughout the collection, all of which serve to strengthen the bond between mankind and nature. Indeed Ortiz succeeds in resolving the binary established between mankind and the natural world prevalent in the western perspective, and through demonstrating mutual inclusion and ownership, mutual compensation, and complete merging of nature and mankind, he constructs a relationship between the two based on reciprocity, equality, and unity. Because of the unique way in which Ortiz merges himself and his community with nature, he is able to connect with his culture and community through nature in three distinct ways throughout Out There Somewhere. The first way this human nature relationship allows to connect with his culture is by transforming nature into a means for reasserting tribal identity. In his book Places: A Short Introduction, Tim Cresswell discusses the political and social factors that influence place, and writes that for the most part places of memory serve to commemorate the winners of history. Endless state capitols, museums and public monuments around the world make sure that a particular view of history is rememberedone of heroes on horseback (87). Though Native Americans feel a deep connection to the land, their history in relation to the land is often set aside in modern day America in order to shift focus onto post-Columbian historical events. Ortiz explores this phenomenon in Histories, Places, Indians, Just Like Always.

LaCasse 15 FROSTBURG, MARYLAND, APRIL 1993 After the Cumberland FM rock music station interview, MaGuire and I walk to the historic local museum. Historic railroad station, historic canal, historic town where George Washington slept one night, historic postcards. Noticing no Indians anywhere, I ask a clerk in the museum shop, Who are the Indians native to western Maryland? Looking puzzled, the clerk shrugs and shows me a book That refers briefly to Indians on one or two pages. (40-41) The Native American history of the land near present-day Cumberland, Maryland has been displaced in favor of the historical events considered more important in the official history of the United States. The Native American connection to the land here has been ignored, and instead replaced with the history of the winners, as Cresswell explains in Places. Native American literature, however, often works to correct this loss of identity with the land caused by colonial imposition of their own history, and Ortizs writing is no exception. Jace Weaver discusses the healing power of this type of writing in his article Native American Authors and their Communities. Such healing is both personal and collective. Luci Tapahonoso describes writing as a vehicle for reversing the diaspora begun after European invasion: For many people in my situation, residing away from my homeland, writing is the means for returning, rejuvenation, and for restoring our spirits to the

LaCasse 16 state of hozo, or beauty, which is the basis of Navajo philosophy. (52) Writing to correct the wrongful exclusion of Native Americans in mainstream American history and to heal the trauma caused by the widespread displacement of many tribes, then, is a way that Native Americans can reclaim this lost part of their identity and history. Hertha Wong makes the same claim as Tapahonosothough perhaps too forcefullywhen she writes contemporary Native writers and artists must formulate and articulate themselves as correctives to the long history of misrepresentation of Natives by colonizers, thus placing themselves as historical and contemporary subjects (147-148). Though I disagree that Native American artists must address these misrepresentations, Ortiz certainly is among the group of contemporary Native artists working to reassert tribal identity in relation to the American landscape in this manner. Ortiz introduces the concept of land as a means to reclaim this lost aspect of Native American identity in In the Moment Before. The land, the way of life, the community. Ours. Our Own. Our heart, blood, soul. Yours, the grandmothers and grandfathers said. Yours, ours, yours, ours, always, always. As he thought, he prayed: always this is ours, our way of life, this is why we must fight for ourselves, always. And today, we must think as we pray: always one with our struggle, hope, and continuance, always for the sake of the land, culture, and community. (21)

LaCasse 17 The speaker first establishes the connection between nature and community, and through this connection evokes his peoples history with the land. He names his ancestors, the grandmothers and grandfathers, and emphasizes his cultures history with the land and the legacy of the land intended for future generations, a legacy that has been erased from much of the version of American history that we learn as residents of the United States. The erasure of the Native American connection to the American natural landscape produces the need for a fight for the sake of the land, culture, and community as an attempt to reunify the Native American identity which has been ruptured by the displacement of peoples, and a denial of their legitimate claim to the land that was taken from them. Ortiz further explores land as a means of reassertion of Native American identity elsewhere in Out There Somewhere. In Headlands Journal, for example, he makes a more forceful denouncement of colonial crimes committed against the indigenous population of the United States and of Native Americans legitimate claim to the land. What would happen if we put up signs saying NO ENTRY. PRIVATE PROPERTY. Signs which stated U.S. GOVERNMENT STAY OUT. Signs which state ATTENTION LIARS THIEVES AND KILLERS You have stolen enough land and life. From here on out, you are no longer allowed access. We claim back our land and life. Go away.

LaCasse 18 Do not enter. (9) This bold statement functions in direct opposition to the places of memory that Cresswell rightfully characterized as serving only to commemorate the winners of history (87). The speakers proposed signs call to attention that which is often glossed over, and commemorates the dominated party of the conflict, not the victors. The speaker reclaims both land and life, working to rebuild and reassert an identity for his community. Nature provides other ways for an individual to connect with his or her community throughout Out There Somewhere. By presenting nature as a forum for communication with his community, for example, Ortiz makes further use of this unique connective quality of the natural world. In To Plant Again, natures role as a forum for interaction and exchange of ideas is very literal. The speaker thinks about a garden that he and his family used to plant together each year. All of us, kids and everyone, would work together on it (57). This place outdoors provides a space for the whole family to gather together and work towards a common goal. The garden also facilitates interaction with others outside the family of the speaker. At their gardens other families also like ours would be nearby./ And we would wave to each other when we and they arrived (57). The space of garden serves to unite independent groups within the community, and in this coming together, words and gestures are exchanged. After the speakers children have grown and moved away, his family still continues to gather here. Sometimes my grandkids helped, and Id tell them of years before (57). Intergenerational communication, then, is also facilitated through this space, and the speaker is able to pass on information to his descendents in the forum of the garden. The process of gardening in this poem works to reinforce the process of communication

LaCasse 19 in this natural space, full of new life. Planting seeds, waiting for new plants to come up, irrigating them,/ Making sure weeds didnt take over, always talking as we worked (57). Just as the participants work hard to cultivate new plants and clear away that which is not desirable from their garden, they work hard to cultivate new ideas and understanding between one another, eliminating miscommunication and lack of interaction. Departing from this more concrete use of natural place as a forum for communication, Ortiz explores this function of nature in a more abstract way in A Gift to Give and Receive. As the speaker pauses to appreciate the delicate and fragile world encompassed in the five sparrow eggs he discovers nestled in a flower pot outside his home, he recognizes that this morning is aglow/ with spring light on new wheat and sorghum fields and senses a connection with everything this spring light touches (62). In recognizing this sense of connection, he celebrates that within this Aprils light, we are all sheltered and joined (61). This link through light initiates a form of exchange and communication between all participants. Hold out your hand then and into it let the light fall. Accept this, this simple gift. And then into the palm of anothers hand let this light, this same light, fall. And know it is the same light the sparrow and its care and love gives and receives. And know it is the same light human parents and their care and love give and receive. (62)

LaCasse 20 This light is passed from hand to hand, from friend to friend, from parent to child, just as knowledge is. This exchange of care and love is an intergenerational, interspecies communication made possible through nature, through the recognition of the intricate world encapsulated in a sparrows egg. The final way in which Ortiz employs his complete connection to nature to in turn connect with his community is by recognizing the natural worlds function as a permanent record of his cultures history. The same practice is present within other Native American groups, not only the Acoma tradition that Ortiz comes from. In his article Wisdom Sits in Places, Keith Basso recounts his observations of the Apache version of this phenomenon. After witnessing a brief conversation between Apache acquaintances that seemed nonsensical to him during a day of cattle work, Basso began his investigation of the complex associations that the Apache make between their history and their natural environment. In this conversation, the participants do nothing more than reference a place near their town called Trail Goes Down Between Two Hills (60). Basso writes, I was unaware that I had been exposed to a venerable set of verbal practices whereby Western Apaches evoke and manipulate the significance of local places to comment on the moral shortcomings of wayward individuals (61). Places in the environment around the Apache settlement have become associated so strongly with stories from the tribes history that the very mention of the place also fully evokes its respective story and its moral. Bassos mentor in this exploration of history as place tells him that Wisdom sits in places. Its like water that never dries up. You need to drink water to stay alive, dont you? Well, you also need to drink from

LaCasse 21 places. You must remember everything about them. You must learn their names. You must remember what happened at them long ago you will be wise. (70) The landscape contains the history and lessons of the Apache community, and to learn this history, one must visit places imbued with story, learn the place and story, and remember them in order to gain the wisdom of this culture. Historys containment in nature is not unique even to Native American cultures, but shared by many indigenous cultures throughout the world. In Bosavi, Papua New Guinea, for example, the Kaluli tribe composes poetic song texts whose meaning centers on place naming, and which reveal a fusion of space and time that joins lives and events as embodied memories (Feld 91). As the Kaluli compose these songs, they also compose a tok, or path (Feld 102). Invocation of the notion of tok signals a generic set of assumptions about the connectedness of Bosavi places, and with that connectedness, a connectedness of people experiences, and memories (Feld 103). Once again, the natural environment contains and evokes the memories and experiences of a people. As in the Apache and Kaluli tribal traditions, Ortiz similarly recognizes nature as a record of his tribes history in Out There Somewhere. This phenomenon is most clearly evident in one of the final texts of the collection, More than Just a River. The speaker remembers the river of his childhood, the chunah, and his recollection of the chunah evokes a series of memories of his cultures history and traditions. He relates, for example, the feast held in celebration of his successful hunting trip. Stah-kuuya ate the deers eyes!which meant she removed them from the deers head and would take

LaCasse 22 them to the chunah where she would pray with them. So the deer would return always to the source of continuing life (108). Thinking of the chunah calls to mind an important cultural tradition, and a lesson to thank nature for its continued support of the Acoma people. The river also allows the speaker to recall the stories of his ancestors, the historical events they recounted which related to the chunah. Acoma elders always talked about days of long ago when the grass would grow as high as because it would rain and rain and lightning would dance and leap from mountain to mesa to mountain (109). The chunah, main water source for the speakers community, has been imbued with many stories from the Acomas history, and the speaker imagines that one day his generations history will be retold and recorded in relation to the chunah as well. So when I am older perhaps I, too, like those elders I listened to when I was a boy, will speak about the time when it rained and rained and rained and the chunah turned into a sea (110)! It seems then, through this unique process wherein the tribes history becomes part of the landscape through repetitive telling in relation to nature, each generation may add a new layer of meaning, of history, to this land. This process of retelling in relation to the natural place is itself remembered by the speaker as he reflects on the river of his childhood. He recalls a form of Acoma rite of passage, a traditional ritual experience known as Chiseh uupahsranee-ih that occurs when boys will soon reach maturity. They are taken by elders to an area where the chunah waters gather in lava ponds, and there with prayer,

LaCasse 23 advice, and story the boys are told their land, culture, and community must always be protected by them. (109) These boys are taken to a place special to the Acoma, and they listen to the history of their community, learning the important values and lessons of their culture, like the unity of land, culture, and community. When they think of this place later in life, these lessons will also be remembered, just as they are for the speaker of the text. The text ends with an affirmation that when I arrive at home I will be assured that memory is more than just a memory, just like a river is more than just a river (110). These two entities, memory and river, are not the simple concepts that they may seem like at first. Moreover, they are in a sense one in the same thing, a unique fusion that when united form a record of Acoma history stored in and transmitted through the natural landscape.

Ortiz, in writing Out There Somewhere, offers his reader an alternative to the prevailing western relationship with nature in which nature is marginalized, dominated, and exploited, emphasizing the possibility for a harmonious and unified relationship with nature, in which nature and mankind are equals. This relationship however, is still one based on practicality and utility. Ortiz can appreciate the beauty of nature as he recognizes its allowance of his continued survival. He can protect it and care for it as he uses its resources respectfully. Furthermore, this unique reciprocal relationship with nature then provides Ortiz with a means to connect to his community as a whole. It is through he and his cultures complete connection to the land that he is able to reassert and reclaim his tribes identity through the land, communicate with his community within the

LaCasse 24 natural world and record his and his tribes history inside the natural places important to the Acoma people. Notice that these words, through, within, and inside, are not words of domination, but words of permutation and mixing. The result would not be the same if Ortiz communicated on the land, or recorded history over natural place. This alternative is something to reflect upon as we move through our lives. If we draw a bit nearer to our natural environment, we will necessarily draw closer to others who also have also formed a connection with the land. This, in turn, means a closer relationship and greater understanding with other cultures that practice a close and intimate relationship with nature. These small changes may or may not be possible or desirable for the reader, but in the very least, Out There Somewhere supplies a different version of human culture relations that can help us see the fault in our own cultural perception of nature and to understand the world in a fuller, more connective way.

Works Cited

LaCasse 25 Basso, Keith H. Wisdom Sits in Places: Notes on a Western Apache Landscape. Senses of Place. Ed. Steven Feld and Keith H. Basso. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 2000. 53-90. Print. Cloke, Paul J., Chris Philo, and David Sadler. Approaching Human Geography: an Introduction to Contemporary Theoretical Debates. New York: Guilford, 1991. Print. Cresswell, Tim. Place: a Short Introduction. Malden, Mass. [u.a.: Blackwell, 2009. Print. Feld, Steven. Waterfalls of Song: An Acoustemology of Place Resounding in Bosavi, Papua New Guinea. Senses of Place. Ed. Steven Feld and Keith H. Basso. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 2000. 91-136. Print. Ortiz, Simon J. Out There Somewhere. Tucson: University of Arizona, 2002. Print. Ortiz, Simon, Kathleen Manley and Paul W. Rea. An Interview with Simon Ortiz. Journal of the Southwest. 31.3 (1989): 362-377. Print. Weaver, Jace. Native American Authors and Their Communities. Wicazo Sa Review. 12.1 (1997): 47-87. Wong, Hertha D. Sweet. Native American Visual Autobiography: Figuring Place, Subjectivity, and History. The Iowa Review. 30.3 (Winter 2000/2001): 145-156. Print.