Customer Reviews

Bead on an Anthill: A Lakota Childhood

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Red Shirt tells her story in clear, oral-story format, using Lakota words where appropriate (and translating them -- she is a 'breed,' and the Lakota word for that means "translator." This gives a very effective sense of culture, time and place. Like most autobiographies by American Indians, her tale is marked by poverty, illness, and the death of loved ones, but it also conveys the strength of the family and their relationship with their past. Red Shirt reminisces about her own experience, and recounts how different her life would have been had she lived during traditional times; but this is not only a tale of loss. It speaks of the strength and permanence of their traditions and the power it gives the people.

Bead on an anthill:

Though a relatively short book, Bead on and Anthill by Delphine Red Shirt is rich with stories about the author's early life in a Traditional Lakota family. The Lakota language is spoken by everyone at home; many customs and practices of the "old way" are continued by the author's mother who also practices the old faith and its ceremonies. Interlaced throughout the book is the Lakota language as an illustration of how a language is at the heart of a culture. The author writes the phrases and words that apply to each situation, translating the meaning each time. There is also a separate chapter on the Lakota language in which it is compared to English. In her introduction, the author gives the reason for writing her book as "primarily for the joy of remembering what was good in my life." Her purpose has been fully realized in this gem of remembrances. Although poverty, alcoholism and other hardships were ever present, the basic goodness in her early years dominates her book. First and foremost is love. Delphine Red Shirt loves her mother, the one who takes care of her family and keeps the Lakota ways. She reveres her older brother who is like a mentor and whose future death is tragically hinted at by the author. Death is a constant presence here. The most moving part of the book is the chapter devoted to Delphine's oldest sister. She is described as a loving sister. Her death from alcoholism is devastating to Delphine. Just as the Lakota language graces every page of the book, the Lakota customs and traditions are also interwoven with the stories. How the Lakota handle death, their beliefs about the afterlife, and what is done at the wake is described as a community coming together and carrying out the rites from long ago. Many other religious ceremonies are described as, for example, the author's passage from childhood to womanhood, her return from the military, the Sun Dance, etc. Often, she notes that a certain practice was formerly prohibited by the government but has survived to be freely expressed today, thanks to religious freedom legislation passed in the 1970's. Aside from her mother, she also greatly values her grandfather not only for her enjoyment of him but for his knowledge about the Lakota history and ways. When he dies she is painfully aware of how much he has taken away with him and will be forever lost. Everyday life is also described in wonderful passages where Delphine plays by herself or with her brothers, learns from her elders, attends a County Fair or describes life in different types of schools - public, government and Catholic. The Traditional community she lived in as child was poor but a good place for children because of the great value placed on them by the Lakota. Perhaps this love is what made everyone of her relations loving to each other as well. This book is recommended for anyone interested in Lakota culture, especially the language. For those who have read works by Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa) or Luther Standing Bear, this book will be a contemporary addition. And for those who do not understand why Indian people cling to their culture, this book will illuminate why they hold their land and culture so dear.

I am interested in reading memoir and also in sharing literary memoir with secondary students and with preservice teachers who need to understand so many different ways of growing up. Bead on an Anthill tells the story of someone who seems to be my own contemporary and to hear her story, growing up and learning Lakota ways in Minnesota as well as dominant culture Anglo customs when she goes to public school offers quite a different story from own middle class, white, suburban, East coast growing up. I was riveted from the beginning with Redshirt's integration of her Lakota language in her text as if no Anglo phrases could truly describe what she wanted to say. I was taken with the acts of discrimination she suffered as a child and with her wondering about the clash of two cultures she experienced. I read many passages out loud to my students and will assign it as a text to represent good memoir to mystudents next semester in order to offer a realistic view of today's Native American.

This book is wonderful. It will give you a glimpse of life on the reservation as a child, without all the prejudice and darkness that so many other books portray.

In this book the author d. redshirt--most commonly known as one of the only writers to be banned by Indian Country today for poor scholarship and for her relentless attacks on so-called "mixed blood people," whom she labels as wanna-bes--writes about her experiences growing up in the northern plains.
Perhaps, it is her own experiences growing up in this harsh, remote area that has made her such a bitter opponent of remanants of New England tribes who have been able to finally gain some measure of economic security and success since the introduction of casino gambling. As if that was not enough, she even claims that all these people "have died out." That is certainly news to us!!!!!!! the people of the Narragannsett, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Wampanoag, Aroostook, Mohegan, and Mashantucket Pequots. Interestingly, at the same time she was making these bizarre arguments she was living an opulent upperclass lifestyle in New Haven, Connecticut, while playing the role of "poverty stricken Indian."
In this book she speaks often of poverty and hunger, but instead of using it as a positive force, she wraps herself in it as if a martyr. The prose is often over the top and given her bent to vicously attack other native people, in the end her work rings hollow.
Interestingly, while Redshirt seems to embrace her own mixed blood heritage it is ironic that she would demean and belittle this same quality in others. For her skin color tells her that "these are not indians", as she so simplistically put it in a recent work. For this author the most important litmus test for Indian heritage is skin color and skin color alone.
All in all, given the motivations and the underlying prejudices of the author, this text is best left alone. It does nothing to present a false picture of Native experience, which is both excludes and demeans the experiences of others. Mitakuye Oyasin!!! apparently not for this author.
Saddly, it seems that she is stuck in a mindset that many are trying to forget, one that seeks to enforce the racial standards of 19th century racial profiles as a determiner of cultural identity.
If you rweally want to get insight into Native culture and belief there is a wealth of published materials out there. I would certainly not recommend this one.

This is a horrible book, who reads this crap. Come on, give me a break. The writing is about the level of a 3rd grader and the story is nothing but one cliche after another for no other reason than writing for the sake of writing. The editors who accepted this manuscript should be fired. What standards do they have, after attempting to read this jumbled, simplistic work the answer is clear: none. I doubt the book would have been published if the author submitted it under her legal name, Delphine Shaw, but change that to redshirt and it is magicaly transformed and yes, unfortunately published. And to think they killed trees to print this...