American Folklore cites collections from a variety of Native North American tribal communities: Briton's “Lenapé Conversations,” Beauchamp's “Onondaga . It will be useful to scholars and researchers of queer studies, gender studies, tribal and indigenous studies, literature, cultural studies, postcolonialism, sociology, political studies and South Asian studies. Based on extensive interdisciplinary research, this book is a first of its kind in the study of indigenous queer narratives. The volume endeavours to demystify the politics behind such vindictive propagation to sensitize the queerphobic mainstream about the essential endogenous presence of the queer in the spaces that are aboriginal. Departing from the popular understanding that ‘Otherness’ results largely from undue exposure to Western permissiveness, the author reveals how minority sexualities actually have their roots in aboriginal indigenous cultures and do not necessarily constitute a mimicry of the West. It elucidates the queer elements in the oral narratives of four indigenous communities from East and Northeast India, which are found to be significant repositories of gender fluidity and non-normative desires. This book explores queer potentialities in the tribal folktales of India. of tribalhood 105 tribal communities, folklore of 4 tribal folk literature 47, . 129n22 subordinated tribal groups 23 Suhangpheba, Sodhung 91 Tanner. Even though they lead a life full of wants and difficulties, they are very labourious and joyful by virtue of which they forget their sorrows and miseries. The cultural patterns of these tribal communities and their life-ways and thought-ways are different from one another as revealed in the analysis of their oral literature. The Kharias are a hunting and food gathering community, the Oraons are noted for the dance and music and the Santals are well known as hard working cultivators and skilled in wall painting, and noted for their sense of beauty. This book gives the folklore of four tribal communities namely, the Kharias, the Oraons, the Santals and the Mundas of Orissa. The older persons are the store house of of their oral literature and from these sources the literary world of theirs is disseminated among the youngsters. These sources of their literary world speak of their spiritual world and the eco-system. It covers stories, legends, myths, song, dances, riddles, proverbs, metaphors and such other aspects of their culture which are in their memory and handed down from generation to generation. The Unwritten Literary World of Tribal Communities is nothing but the Oral Literature or Folklore.

Native american folklore