Gatherings: The En'owkin Journal of First North American Peoples

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of education at the University of
Prince Edward Island and Honorary Chief of the Mi'kmaq of Prince Edward
Island.

Organized under such subject headings as rights, land, family, identity,
and language, this book portrays the beliefs, customs, and attitudes of
First North American peoples. All of the contributors express attachment
to a way of life that for them is rich and fulfilling. The reader is
caught up in their conflicting moods: joy and despair, pride in the
past, bitterness about the present, familial love, abiding attachment to
ancestral land, and resentment at non-Native exploitation of Native
resources. There is a pervasive sense of spirituality, the occasional
flash of ironic humor, and fresh and echoic imagery. Throughout there is
an underlying refrain: no more “acculturation by/perfect repetition”
of the more dominant culture.