The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

Almost thirty years after its initial publication, Paula Gunn Allen’s celebrated study of women’s roles in Native American culture, history, and traditions continues to influence writers and scholars in Native American studies, women’s studies, queer studies, religion and spirituality, and beyond This groundbreaking collection of seventeen essays investigates and celebrates Native American traditions, with special focus on the position of the American Indian woman within those customs. Divided into three sections, the book discusses literature and authors, history and historians, sovereignty and revolution, and social welfare and public policy, especially as those subjects interact with the topic of Native American women. Poet, academic, biographer, critic, activist, and novelist Paula Gunn Allen was a leader and trailblazer in the field of women’s and Native American spirituality. Her work is both universal and deeply personal, examining heritage, anger, racism, homophobia, Eurocentrism, and the enduring spirit of the American Indian.