Ceremony Source Assignment:
Postcolonial critics and activists often assess a literary work’s value by how much it draws upon pre-colonial sources of knowledge and culture. One of the most common projects for scholars of American Indian literature is to show how knowledge of a tribal culture – its language, religion, gender roles, family dynamics, migration history, etc. – is important for fully understanding the text.
Your task is to find such a source for Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Ceremony. A variety of academic articles exist that explain aspects of Laguna Pueblo culture and how they can be found in her novel. Find one of them, read it, and then write a 250-word description of the Pueblo or Navajo information contained in the article. Turn in this description along with the first page of the article. Also, at the bottom of your description, provide a Works Cited entry for the article according to MLA formats.