As It Comes

description

As It Comes re-assembles passages taken from three North American First Nations autobiographies: Black Elk Speaks, Yellow Wolf His Own Story and During My Time by Florence Edenshaw Davidson, my great grandmother. All of the texts tell of the legislation of indigenous rights amidst the coming of modernity, with each written as a personal account yet authored by and credited to someone else. Black Elk’s story is told by American poet John G. Neihardt, Yellow Wolf’s by Lucullus Virgil McWhorter and Edenshaw’s by Margaret B. Blackman. Many other individuals too were involved in their construction, producing a further remove from the direct account — Black Elk’s son interpreted for his father who didn’t speak English and the poet’s daughter transcribed his story for example — and offering their versions of particular events. These numerous voices suggest a self-reflexivity, signifying that singular opinion may be fallible and subjective, and understanding that one person cannot represent the whole.