The Rotinonshonni: a traditional Iroquoian history through the eyes of Teharonhia:wako and Sawiskera

Abstract

In The Rotinonshonni Through the Eyes of Teharonhia: wako and Sawiskera, Brian Natoway Rice seeks to offer a comprehensive history based on the oral traditions of the Rotinonshonni (people of the longhouse). The book has its origins in Rice s study with traditional Cayuga royaner Jacob Thomas, who performed days-long recitations of the oral history of the Iroquois in English. Rice suggests that, My purpose in writing this book is to not only inform the reader about the traditions of Rotinonshonni society, but to also give the reader a sense of place for those traditions. I also wanted to show that as Indigenous academics we have our own cultural based methodologies. The book offers tellings of the Iroquois creation story, the origin of Iroquois clans, the law of peace, the European invasion, the life of Handsome Lake, and finally of Rice s own walk 700 miles in the footsteps of the Peacemaker (founder of the Iroquois confederacy), as Rice seeks to provide a written translation into English of Iroquois oral history, taking part himself as a member of a continuous tradition.