Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (born "Elizabeth Irving", Crow Creek Sioux, in 1930) is an editor, essayist, poet, and novelist. She is considered to be outspoken in her views about
Native American politics, particularly in regards to tribal sovereignty.
She has criticized those who make
tenuous claims to Native/Indigenous ancestry with the purpose of advancing their own careers, and described such claimants with no community connections as "tribeless". She believes they damage the development of economic and social life of Native nations.
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Biography
Cook-Lynn was born in
Fort Thompson, South Dakota
Fort Thompson is a census-designated place (CDP) in Buffalo County, South Dakota, Buffalo County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,282 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, making it the largest settlement on the Crow Cr ...
on the
Crow Creek Reservation
The Crow Creek Indian Reservation ( dak, Khąǧí wakpá okášpe, '' lkt, Kȟaŋğí Wakpá Oyáŋke''), home to Crow Creek Sioux Tribe ( dak, Khąǧí wakpá oyáte) is located in parts of Buffalo, Hughes, and Hyde counties on the east bank ...
. She is a
Dakota
Dakota may refer to:
* Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux
** Dakota language, their language
Dakota may also refer to:
Places United States
* Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Dakota, Illinois, a town
* Dakota, Minnesota, ...
and member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe.
There, she attended school on the Big Bend Reservation.
She was raised in a family of scholars and politicians, with both her father and grandfather serving on the Crow Creek Sioux Tribal Council. Her grandmother wrote in English and Dakota for Christian newspapers. Her great-grandfather, Gabriel Renville, was a Native linguist and pioneer of early Dakota-language dictionaries.
Cook-Lynn attended
South Dakota State College (which later became South Dakota State University) where she earned a BA in English and Journalism. In college, she took a history class about westward expansion and was surprised that it ignored the Native American presence in the region. This sparked her interest in advocating for Native Americans.
Cook-Lynn states that she began to write out of anger, as an "act of defiance born of the need to survive ... as Simon Ortiz says, it is an act that defies oppression."
Cook-Lynn did graduate studies at
New Mexico State University
New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...
in 1966,
Black Hills State College
Black Hills State University (BHSU) is a public university in Spearfish, South Dakota. Close to 4,000 students attend classes at its campus in Spearfish, at sites in Rapid City and Pierre, and through distance offerings. Enrollment comes from ...
in 1968, and finished her doctorate program at the
University of Nebraska
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
in 1978. Prior to receiving her doctorate, Cook-Lynn was selected as a
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
fellow and studied in 1976 at
Stanford University.
In 1985 Cook-Lynn co-founded ''
Wíčazo Ša Review
The ''Wíčazo Ša Review'' ("Red Pencil" in Lakota) is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal of Native American studies. The journal was established in 1985 by editors-in-chief Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (Dakota Santee), Dr. Beatrice Medicine (Lak ...
'' ("Red Pencil"), an academic journal devoted to
Native American studies as an academic discipline. The other founding editors were Beatrice Medicine, Roger Buffalohead, and William Willard. Cook-Lynn has both written and taught in her academic career.
She taught at multiple high schools in New Mexico and South Dakota, and has been a visiting professor at
University of California Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The instit ...
. Most notably, Cook-Lynn served as a professor of English and Native Studies at
Eastern Washington University. She retired from this position in 1971, and became Professor Emerita in 1990. She has also served as a writer-in-residence at multiple universities, and was a visiting professor at
Arizona State University in 2000.
In her book, ''You May Consider Speaking About Your Art'', Cook-Lynn states that the contemporary poet is someone who must "consecrate history and event, survival and joy and sorrow, the significance of ancestors and the unborn."
Her first book, ''Then Badger Said This'' (1977) "illustrated multi-genre exploration of the sources of Dakotah life and values."
She acknowledges writer
N. Scott Momaday in the creation of the book.
Cook-Lynn has opposed the
presidency of Donald Trump
Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory ...
and the governorship of
Kristi Noem
Kristi Lynn Noem (; née Arnold; born November 30, 1971) is an American politician serving as the 33rd governor of South Dakota since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she was the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2019 and a member ...
, accusing the
SDGOP of holding a "regime" over the state and restricting peoples rights in terms of assembly, speech, and access to abortion procedures. She continued to criticize Noem even after the governor declared
Sioux the official indigenous language / co-official language of the state. Cook-Lynn has said that certain tribes with more cordial relations with the Federal Government, such as those in
Oklahoma,
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
and
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
, are "
Vichy
Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais.
It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...
Indians," referring to Occupied France during World War II and the words of
Oglala Lakota activist
Russell Means
Russell Charles Means (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native Americans, libertarian political activist, actor, musician, and writer. He became a prominent member of the American In ...
.
Awards
* 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas
* National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship
* 2002 ''Literary Contribution Award'' from the Mountain Plains Library Association
* ''Oyate Igluwitaya'' by the Native American Club at South Dakota State University
* ''Why I Can't Read Wallace Stegner and Other Essays : A Tribal Voice,'' cited for a Gustavus Myers Award
Bibliography
*''From the river's edge'' (NY: Arcade, 1991).
*''At Dawn, Sitting in My Father's House''
Poetry
*''I remember the fallen trees : new and selected poems'' (Cheney, WA: Eastern Washington University Press, 1998).
Short stories
*''The power of horses and other stories'' (NY: Arcade, 1990).
*''Seek the house of relatives'' (Marvin, SD: Blue Cloud Quarterly Press, 1983).
*''Then Badger said this'' (Fairfield, WA: Ye Galleon Press, 1983).
Non-fiction
*''A Separate Country: Postcoloniality and American Indian Nations'' (Texas Tech University Press, 2011).
*''Anti-Indianism in Modern America: A Voice from Tatekeya's Earth'' (Illinois UP 2001).
*''Politics of Hallowed Ground : Wounded Knee and the Struggle for Indian Sovereignty'' (with Mario Gonzalez) (Illinois UP, 1999).
*''Why I can't read Wallace Stegner and other essays : a tribal voice'' (Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, 1996).
See also
*
List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas
This is a list of notable writers who are Indigenous peoples of the Americas.
This list includes authors who are Alaskan Native, American Indian, First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and Indigenous peoples of Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, ...
*
Native American Renaissance The Native American Renaissance is a term originally coined by critic Kenneth Lincoln in the 1983 book ''Native American Renaissance'' to categorise the significant increase in production of literary works by Native Americans in the United States in ...
*
Native American Studies
References
Further reading
*
External links
Official ECL website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook-Lynn, Elizabeth
1930 births
Living people
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American poets
20th-century American short story writers
20th-century American women writers
American women novelists
American women poets
American women short story writers
Eastern Washington University faculty
Native American academics
Native American women academics
American women academics
Native American activists
Native American novelists
Native American poets
Native American women writers
Novelists from South Dakota
Novelists from Washington (state)
Lakota people
People from Buffalo County, South Dakota
People from Rapid City, South Dakota
21st-century American women
20th-century Native American women
20th-century Native Americans
21st-century Native American women
21st-century Native Americans