Native Arts (cont.)
Used a variety of media: pigments, shells, embroidery, leather, etc.
Ambivalently considered as ìsavageî and crude, or exotic, or child-like and ìinnocentî by European settlers
Helped to form an ìAmericanî artistic and literary identity for later Anglo-European settlers, who were no longer ìEuropeanî but did not want to become ìIndianî
Because mostly orally-transmitted cultures, were not considered ìculturesî by ìliterateî European settlers
Seldom reciprocated: while Bible translated into Algonquin in late 1700s,no native tales were translated into English