Böcker av Alfred Kiyana

This book has editions and translations of eleven texts written in the Algonquian language Meskwaki by Alfred Kiyana over a century ago. The manuscripts of these are part of the large collection of Meskwaki texts that are in the National Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Institution. The first ten of the texts have what are called winter stories. They are set in ancient times when human beings and their world are not yet like they are today. There are powerful spirits (manitous), giants and monsters, talking birds and animals, and magical transformations. Even the ostensible human beings may have supernatural powers. The final text brings together three brief thematically linked stories about people who lived in the world as we know it today. As indicated by the choice of the title selection, the stories in this book have sexual themes and some strong sexual content. They have been brought together not only because the treatment of these topics might be of interest, but also, given their often inexplicit titles, as a way to make clear the presence of subject matter that some may wish to avoid. Meskwaki is the heritage language of the Meskwaki Nation (the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa).