Leo Zonn, Department of Geography, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599. E-mail: zonn@unc.edu and Dick G. Winchell, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Eastern Washington University, Spokane, WA 99202, E-mail: dwinchell@ewu.edu. Framing Identity in Indigenous Literature and Film.

American Indian storytellers, authors, and filmmakers have rapidly gained recognition and success since the 1960's, but the transformation to achieve a broader understanding of the complexities of tribal-based representation remains "in progress." Part of the difficulty lies with the inability to frame such works within American Indian contexts, instead of Western frameworks of meaning. Most images and imagery of American Indians, especially in the western U.S., were not produced by American Indians, but by non-Indians, building on and creating myths which have subsequently framed and structured the popular understanding of the West and American Indian identity. American Indian authors are now creating authentic voices from specific tribes which contain recognizable themes and contexts of literary structure, but these are not necessarily based in Western traditions. This article seeks to differentiate the role of American Indian authors and film-makers, particularly as they describe American Indian identity in a context of landscape and tribal culture, as portrayed through literary tropes of authenticity toward their own traditions and community, within a broader context of changing attitudes and values toward the West from both non-Indian and communities. The works of Leslie Silko and Sherman Alexie will be emphasized to identify the failure of standardized western geographical concepts and worldviews to properly frame the analysis and significance of American Indian perspectives.