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| omnipoetics:a_map_to_the_next_world [2025/02/12 17:22] – [Summary] mary | omnipoetics:a_map_to_the_next_world [2025/04/24 00:02] (current) – holly |
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| ====== A Map to the Next World ====== | <WRAP center round info 60%> |
| | //Serpent and the Fire// (pp. 173-175) |
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| | ====== A Map to the Next World by Joy Harjo ====== |
| Written by Joy Harjo and published in her collection //A Map to the Next World: Poems// (2000). | Written by Joy Harjo and published in her collection //A Map to the Next World: Poems// (2000). |
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| Joy Harjo reads [[https://youtu.be/x4ab9vOC4Po?si=37cNwQBX9vtG2CqJ|A Map to the Next World.]] | Joy Harjo reads [[https://youtu.be/x4ab9vOC4Po?si=37cNwQBX9vtG2CqJ|A Map to the Next World.]] |
| ====== Author ====== | ===== Author ===== |
| {{ :omnipoetics:matika-portrait.jpg?200|}} | {{ :omnipoetics:matika-portrait.jpg?200|}} |
| Joy Harjo, born May 9, 1951, identifies as a performer and writer of the Muscogee (Mvskoke) Nation located in Oklahoma. Harjo is the author of ten books of poetry and is known as the first Native American to serve as the United States Poet Laureate. Harjo's writing often challenges Western culture in its observation and promotion of native spirituality. Her poetry is additionally described as inhabiting landscapes from the Southwest to the Southeast of the United States and is centered "around the need for remembrance and transcendence." (("Joy Harjo." //Poetry Foundation//, [[https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/joy-harjo]])) | Joy Harjo, born May 9, 1951, identifies as a performer and writer of the Muscogee (Mvskoke) Nation located in Oklahoma. Harjo is the author of ten books of poetry and is known as the first Native American to serve as the United States Poet Laureate. Harjo's writing often challenges Western culture in its observation and promotion of native spirituality. Her poetry is additionally described as inhabiting landscapes from the Southwest to the Southeast of the United States and is centered "around the need for remembrance and transcendence." (("Joy Harjo." //Poetry Foundation//, [[https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/joy-harjo]].)) |
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| As a critically-acclaimed poet and internationally renowned performer, Harjo holds many honors, including the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Circles, and the American Indian Distinguished Achievement in the Arts Award. "Her [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMuXAvxAZck|music]] has been awarded a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year 2009" (400).((Harjo, Joy. //When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry//. W. W. Norton & Company, 2020)) She has also received numerous fellowship from institutions such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rasmuson Foundation. | As a critically-acclaimed poet and internationally renowned performer, Harjo holds many honors, including the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Circles, and the American Indian Distinguished Achievement in the Arts Award. "Her [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMuXAvxAZck|music]] has been awarded a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year 2009" (400).((Harjo, Joy. //When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry//. W. W. Norton & Company, 2020.)) She has also received numerous fellowship from institutions such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rasmuson Foundation. |
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| For more information on Joy Harjo, visit her website at [[https://www.joyharjo.com/|JoyHarjo.com]] | For more information on Joy Harjo, visit her website at [[https://www.joyharjo.com/|JoyHarjo.com]] |
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| ====== Summary ====== | ===== Summary ===== |
| {{ :omnipoetics:61pby1xvb6l._ac_uf1000_1000_ql80_.jpg?200|}} | {{ :omnipoetics:61pby1xvb6l._ac_uf1000_1000_ql80_.jpg?200|}} |
| Harjo’s poem “A Map of the Next World” begins with the end of the fourth world, or what we might perceive as modern society. The poem references a new map made of “sand” that “must carry fire,” in order to “renew” and restore what has been lost of indigenous culture (lines 6-7). ((Harjo, Joy. "A Map of the Next World." //The Serpent and the Fire//, edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024.)) The poem frequently refers to the current state of society in negative terms, citing issues of pollution, drugs, and technology and how these conditions have exploited and harmed native people and their cultural memories. The poem attempts to resolve these issues by calling back to a previous state of existence, one in which the reader “will have to navigate by your mother’s voice, renew the song she is singing” (36) ((Harjo, Joy. "A Map of the Next World." //The Serpent and the Fire//, edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024.)). In this lineal renewal, cultural memories that have been forgotten, and therefore the culture itself, can be restored by native people if they turn towards their origins. The poem ends with a message of restoration and responsibility as Harjo writes, “Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end. / You must make your own map.” (52-3). ((Harjo, Joy. "A Map of the Next World." //The Serpent and the Fire//, edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024.)) | Harjo’s poem “A Map of the Next World” begins with the end of the fourth world, or what we might perceive as modern society. The poem references a new map made of “sand” that “must carry fire,” in order to “renew” and restore what has been lost of indigenous culture (lines 6-7). ((Harjo, Joy. "A Map of the Next World." //The Serpent and the Fire//, edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024.)) The poem frequently refers to the current state of society in negative terms, citing issues of pollution, drugs, and technology and how these conditions have exploited and harmed native people and their cultural memories. The poem attempts to resolve these issues by calling back to a previous state of existence, one in which the reader “will have to navigate by your mother’s voice, renew the song she is singing” (36) ((Harjo, Joy. "A Map of the Next World." //The Serpent and the Fire//, edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024.)). In this lineal renewal, cultural memories that have been forgotten, and therefore the culture itself, can be restored by native people if they turn towards their origins. The poem ends with a message of restoration and responsibility as Harjo writes, “Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end. / You must make your own map.” (52-3). ((Harjo, Joy. "A Map of the Next World." //The Serpent and the Fire//, edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada, University of California Press, 2024.)) |
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| ====== Terms and People ====== | ===== Terms and People ===== |
| **Fourth World** - The term “Fourth World” is found in some indigenous creation stories. The Navajo people refer to four worlds that came into existence throughout creation. From the first world to the fourth, the Navajo’s mythological ancestors traveled through these various realms until they reached a state of mature existence. (("Fourth World." //The Tony Hillerman Portal//, [[https://ehillerman.unm.edu/2081#sthash.c0kmtWHC.dpbs]])) This final world was the fourth world and is what we know as Earth. In some variations, it is the fifth world which is referred to as the current state of existence. The term has also been used to describe “When Native peoples come into their own, on the basis of their own cultures and traditions, that will be the Fourth World.” (("Fourth World." //Wikipedia//, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_World]])) Beyond this, it has now become “synonymous with stateless, poor, and marginal nations.” (("Fourth World." //Wikipedia//, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_World]])) | __Fourth World__ - The term “Fourth World” is found in some indigenous creation stories. The Navajo people refer to four worlds that came into existence throughout creation. From the first world to the fourth, the Navajo’s mythological ancestors traveled through these various realms until they reached a state of mature existence. (("Fourth World." //The Tony Hillerman Portal//, [[https://ehillerman.unm.edu/2081#sthash.c0kmtWHC.dpbs]].)) This final world was the fourth world and is what we know as Earth. In some variations, it is the fifth world which is referred to as the current state of existence. The term has also been used to describe “When Native peoples come into their own, on the basis of their own cultures and traditions, that will be the Fourth World.” (("Fourth World." //Wikipedia//, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_World]].)) Beyond this, it has now become “synonymous with stateless, poor, and marginal nations.” (("Fourth World." //Wikipedia//, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_World]].)) |
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| **Killing Fields** - A term referring to war and its subsequent battlefields/bloodshed. | __Killing Fields__ - A term referring to war and its subsequent battlefields/bloodshed. |
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| **Desiray Kierra Chmusee** - According to the article "Writing Deeper Maps: Mapmaking, Local Indigenous Knowledges, and Literary Nationalism in Native Women's Writing," written by Kelli Lyon Johnson, Desiray Kierra Chee is identified as "her [Joy Harjo's]* granddaughter" (112). ((Johnson, Kelli Lyon. “Writing Deeper Maps: Mapmaking, Local Indigenous Knowledges, and Literary Nationalism in Native Women’s Writing.” //Studies in American Indian Literatures//, vol. 19, no. 4, 2007, pp. 103–20. //JSTOR//, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20737392)) | __Desiray Kierra Chmusee__ - According to the article "Writing Deeper Maps: Mapmaking, Local Indigenous Knowledges, and Literary Nationalism in Native Women's Writing," written by Kelli Lyon Johnson, Desiray Kierra Chee is identified as "her [Joy Harjo's]* granddaughter" (112). ((Johnson, Kelli Lyon. “Writing Deeper Maps: Mapmaking, Local Indigenous Knowledges, and Literary Nationalism in Native Women’s Writing.” //Studies in American Indian Literatures//, vol. 19, no. 4, 2007, pp. 103–20. //JSTOR//, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20737392.)) |
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| *Please note that in Rothenberg and Taboada's anthology, Harjo's granddaughter's last name is spelled differently. This appears to be an error on the editors' part. | *Please note that in Rothenberg and Taboada's anthology, Harjo's granddaughter's last name is spelled differently. This appears to be an error on the editors' part. |
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| ====== Additional Resources ====== | ===== Additional Resources ===== |
| Joy Harjo's Poet Laureate project: [[https://www.loc.gov/ghe/cascade/index.html?appid=be31c5cfc7614d6680e6fa47be888dc3|Living Nations, Living Worlds: A Map of the First Peoples Poetry]] | Joy Harjo's Poet Laureate project: [[https://www.loc.gov/ghe/cascade/index.html?appid=be31c5cfc7614d6680e6fa47be888dc3|Living Nations, Living Worlds: A Map of the First Peoples Poetry]] |
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| Muscogee (Creek) Nation National Library and Archives: [[https://mvskokenationallibraryarchive.org/|Archives, Library, and Oral History]] | Muscogee (Creek) Nation National Library and Archives: [[https://mvskokenationallibraryarchive.org/|Archives, Library, and Oral History]] |
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| | {{tag>English USA Muscogee_Nation poem narrative_poem Race_Culture_Identity history}} |
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