I bought a collection of writings by contemporary native women in North America (literal meaning, this is, Canada, the USA, Mexico), called “Reinventing the Enemy’s Language“ (edited by Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird) and I would like to share with you this very interesting poem, “The Housing Poem”, by Dian Million. It’s published in written & audio version on the TP Podcast. But please, better post here your comments on the poem!
More about this writer? Here’s a link to the TP webpage on Dian Million.
I have tons of comments arising from discovering this poem! But now, to have a little rest! 
The Housing Poem, by Dian Million
March 14, 2008 · 3 Comments
Categories: 1 - Poems & Songs · 3 - Books
Tagged: didian million, native indians, nova scotian, tanana athabascan, the housing poem
3 responses so far ↓
Dakota // April 12, 2008 at 10:50 pm
You see, White families are called “nuclear families” and they relate to parents and their children. Native Indian families are “extended families”, and that’s another idea of a family, but this kind of organization was crushed by the imposition of the white lifestyle, or acculturization.
Extended families also happen in Africa, and that’s why even though a lot of people have literally nothing, children always have some adult(s) to turn to.
In “Lakota Woman” Mary Crow Dog says, “At the center of the old Sioux society was the tiyospaye, the extended family group, the basic hunting band, w3hich included grandparents, uncles, aunts, in-laws, and cousins. The tiyospaye was like a warm womb cradling all within it. Kids were never alone, always fussed ove by not one but several mothers, watched and taught by several fathers” (p. 13, HarperPerennial 1991).
Mercedes // April 28, 2008 at 6:33 pm
The more I learn the more I realize I know nothing
Dakota // May 1, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Why do all the knowledgeable people I know say that?
Hi there, Mercedes! Great to see you around!
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