Native American Rhetoric ed. by Lawrence W. Gross

Abstract

Reviewed by: Native American Rhetoric ed. by Lawrence W. Gross Yavanna M. Brownlee Lawrence W. Gross, ed. Native American Rhetoric. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2021. 328 pp. Hardcover, $75.00. In compiling the works for Native American Rhetoric, Lawrence W. Gross demonstrates that Native American rhetorics do not need to be seen as reactionary to colonization. They do exist in their own right and are equal with the Western tradition. In the introduction, Gross states that much of the existing scholarship on Native American rhetoric focuses on resistance and survivance (Baca & Villanueva; Lyons; Powell; Stromberg; Vizenor) as a response to the external influences of colonization and, as such, is confrontational, like much of the Western tradition. [End Page 351] Within Native American cultures, however, rhetoric seems to work toward harmony, consensus, and unity with the goal of creating social cohesion while respecting the autonomy of individuals and is, therefore, different from the Western tradition. Gross argues that "Native American rhetorical practices have their own interior logic grounded in the moral thinking and religious practices of the given tradition" (1), which fills the gap left by scholars who only address Native American rhetorics within the context of the Western tradition and as a way of finding agency and equal footing. But Gross does not just argue, he demonstrates this internal Native American rhetoric through recognizing that rhetoric does not exist in a cultural vacuum. Instead, it is connected to and informed by other aspects of culture—especially religion and morality—and other cultures. These connections continue to clearly articulate the conventions of Native American rhetorics as they are grounded in the morality of cultures and communities, which is essential to "validat[ing] Native American cultures and [keeping] them alive and vibrant" (3). This book explores the reality of rhetorics within Native American cultures and the connections in and between cultures. It works to reaffirm the efforts of the authors involved and the cultures they are part of, and it serves as a "passing glance at the richness of rhetorical practices the exist among Native people" (15). Dedicated to Inéz Talamantez, elder and scholar, mother and mentor, who walked on in September 2019, Native American Rhetoric is an extension, and is in honor, of her legacy and reminds readers that Native American rhetorics come from within the peoples, cultures, and traditions that have housed them for time immemorial. These considerations are taken into account in every part of the text, from the order of the chapters to the inclusion of plants and animals, earth and air as peoples to emphasizing rhetorical listening as a demonstration of respect and a community sustainable process. In ordering the chapters to follow the path of the sun through the day—from east to west—Gross orients readers, setting them on a temporal path that is also circular in its path around North America and crosses Western political boarders from the US into Mexico and Canada. In starting with Philip P. Arnold's essay, "'And Now Our Minds Are One': The Thanksgiving Address and Attaining Consensus among the Haudenosaunee," readers engage in an ancient practice of gratitude "that brings minds together 'as one,' all beings involved in the basic material [End Page 352] necessities of life" (17). The Ganoñhéñ·nyoñ or "Thanksgiving Address" translates, in English, to "The Words before All Else" and communicates peace and relationship, forgiveness and change. The Haudenosaunee attribute their continued survival to the protocols of the Thanksgiving Address. Native American Rhetorics's path then progresses to Gross's own chapter on digressions in Anishinaanbe rhetoric; Delores Mondragón's "Chicana/o/x Rhetoric"; Felicia Rhapsody Lopez's chapter on Nahua rhetoric and worldview as it appears within the Glyph Codex Borgia; Seth Schermerhorn's "'O'odham, Too," which focuses on how to talk to rattlesnakes; and Meredith Moss's chapter on the use of bookending in Navajo speaking practices. The book reaches its zenith and positions readers in the American southwest with Inéz Talamantez's chapter on the agency of Apache ancestors before carrying readers toward the western horizon and north and west across the continent. The second part of the book's path progresses with Cutcha...