4.5/5 White men put flesh on dinosaur bones to reconstruct the entire animal, to show they are smarter than the animal they construct out of their own egos. They do the same thing with us by rewriting our history. They do not have to be right, they only have to do the act itself.-Scott Kayla Morrison ("Kela Humma" (Red Hawk)), Choctaw, 'An Apokni by Any Other Name Is Still a Kakoo' If you've been following #NoDAPL at all, you'll know that a recent presidential decision has effectively halted c...

I can't put into words how great this is. Essential, varied, undeniable, painful, funny, enlightening, outstanding. Every page kept me wanting more. Couldn't put it down. Everyone should read this anthology. Understanding the wreckage caused by colonialism that is so relentlessly ignored is crucial; ignoring it is not just inappropriate, it's foolish. These women are strong, inventive and brilliant. The whole anthology is strong and unrelenting

While it is difficult to contend with a title and certain contributions that bristle with such fierce and territorial exclusion, it is perhaps important to note that this is precisely the experience of so many Native American women in our society. Other-footing the shoe initiates the beginnings of a communicative balance and, I found, helps to bridge the distance between two very disparate encounters with life in the United States. This collection of work is, for the most part, quite superb and

Reinventing the Enemy's Language is the first time a collection of Native American Women's writing has been published. Every poem, story, essay has been carefully thought out and put together with a deep respect for the Nations. This book is a must read for all who are interested in America's original people.

Reinventing the Enemy’s Language is the ultimate compilation of indigenous women’s writings and their respective works that span from numerous authors capturing a number backgrounds each providing a unique and profound take on issues and themes prevalent in Indigenous cultures that would often go marginalized or unnoticed entirely in a modern American society. While the authors here are an eclectic bunch from numerous corners of America, they all emphasize common themes of identity and the prese...

Full disclosure- I haven't read all of this book cover to cover (I'm in college, what is free time?), but from the sections that I have read, I can confirm that this is a thoughtfully and expertly curated collection. It's the type of book that could keep a person occupied for years, because there's so much great work contained in this collection. I love how the authors recognize and acknowledge that this book is written in the enemy's language (English), because language can be such an important...

This anthology is an amazing and impactful representation of Native stories from all different walks of life. The excerpts I read from Reinventing the Enemy’s Language were extremely impactful. I’d say there was two that stuck out to me the most, those being The Housing Poem and Confession. The Housing Poem gives you so much substance in such a small amount of words. It really shows you the amount of ‘punch’ words really do have. Being a middle-class white person, I can’t say I have any ounce of...

“Reinventing The Enemy’s Language” edited by Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird with help from Patricia Blanco, Beth Cuthand, and Valerie Martinez. Out of these readings, there were a couple that stuck out to me: "99 things to do before you die" by nila northSun and "The Constellation of Angels" by Anita Endrezze. Both of these, a poem and an essay, had so much depth to them, leaving our readers filled with interesting insights and questions. With "99 things to do before you die" by nila northSun the tex...

I am a current student at the University of Nebraska Lincoln taking a class called Intro to Native American Literature. When looking at the assigned passages it looked too confusing and I didn't think I was going to like or learn much from it, I was wrong. There was one passage in "Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writings of North America" by Joy Harjo that changed my whole perspective on the lives of Native Americans and it was "The Border State Patrol" by Leslie M...

Reinventing the Enemy’s Language is a powerful collection of works from many different Native American women authors. These women write about what they know and are able to show the reader some of the problems they face in everyday life. Most of the stories and poems are beautifully written and intensely thought provoking. One of my favorites is The Constellation of Angels which tells the story of a woman who faces violence and racism on a daily basis. Violence and poverty are apparent in many

Stunning. This book was published in 1997, but it is not at all outdated. It is just as relevant and important as it was when written.The book is a mix of memoir, poetry, and a smaller amount of fiction. Each piece has a short introduction to the author. Most authors identify themselves by nation, clan, community, ancestors, parents. Those of us whose ancestors came from other continents do not, cannot, have the kind of continuity of community that these women do - even though we disrupted their...

Reinventing the Enemy’s Language is a great book to read, you do not have be Indian women to read this book because I am not an Indian women but I enjoyed reading it too. I was required to read this book my English class, but we did not read all of it, we just read q few parts and I really enjoyed it. Before reading this book, I was not a huge fan of poetry. It wasn't because I didn't enjoy it, it was more because I didn't understand always what the author was trying to say or tell when writing

This book is one of the most eye opening, slap in the face novels I have ever read in my life! “Reinventing the Enemy’s Language” is a compilation of writings by different Native women. This book is an example of a term known as “survivance”. This term is a combination of the words survival and defiance. Through the stories you find that a lot of these women have survived events that you can’t even imaging and the fact that they are writing and sharing their stories is an act of defiance. They

Rhetorical Sovereignty at its FinestThis book is somewhat inspiring to me. Being a woman sometimes you don’t really feel that your voice is heard and that is one thing that I loved about this book. This book is entirely written by female authors and they did a wonderful job. There are stories that are about anything and everything. From trauma to a simple recipe this book really captures the Native American culture and I would definitely not shy away from it just because it is written by all wom...

Amazing book. You learn about human beings, and of course about American Indian women. But you also lean about the problems with naming and language, the one that prevails in our culture, excluding so many people, trying to harm so many people. There are poems, stories, anecdotes, there is herstory, analysis… There are also some writers, like Joy Harjo, who's been the first native writer to be awarded a most important poetry prize in the USA. Harjo is a musician and composer too. I have a few of...

Heading each piece, the writer names the nation to which they belong—it feels like defiance against the taxonomic table of contents that typifies the western itch to classify and anthologize. Different values too. When the dominant culture asserts its might by saying “I am [Italian/American/whatever]”, instead to say, I belong to ______ nation- I am of my people. The title comes back to me again and again: Reinventing the Enemy's Language. To become expert in something that contributes nothing o...

Wonderful compilation of Native women writers!

Can I give it 3.5? Most contributors wrote one piece, so the poets got a lot less density.

Excellent. Moving and creative.

One of the most coherent, inspiring and honest books I've read. Women's voices are always the most powerful for me.

I vote for kitchen tables as an excellent place to generate collaborative works such as this--a collection from various tribes and women discussing the challenges of integrating the Indian culture with the modern American culture and the outcome of these clashes and celebrations of gender roles. The Editors have assembled a comprehensive collection of authors and writings.

Am gonna write this one up for my website also. Have a question about the decision on "identity" in this book and representation of "federally recognized" versus "non recognized." More to come at http://cutchabaldy.weebly.com

This reads like a who's who of Native American women writers. If you want a small taste of a big spectrum, this is a good pick.

an excellent selection of writings...very important.

Excellent!

Read half but even taking into account that the women weren't professional writers, I found it a bit clunky.

Contemporary native women's writing (well, the 90's) featuring stories, essays, and all manner of amazing works.