First Impressions of A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff as an Author

In January 1996 I enrolled in my first course in American Indian literatures. As a neophyte in the field, I searched for texts that could help me with the new concepts I was learning, ideas that would enhance my understanding of native authors and their works. One of the first books I purchased was American Indian Literatures: An Introduction, Bibliographic Review, and Selected Bibliography, by A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff (1990). A blurb on the back cover by SAIL summarizes my first impressions of the book, which I read from cover to cover, underlining, highlighting, and annotating: "The first thing likely to strike the reader upon opening LaVonne Ruoff's new volume is the range, variety, and richness of American Indian Literatures. . . . Well conceived and well executed, [the book] will be welcomed by students and teachers who are approaching the subject for the first time." As both student and teacher, I appreciated the comprehensive introduction that Ruoff provides in this work. For someone who was at the beginning of the learning curve, the book was a welcome resource. In fact, I kept hoping that she would eventually publish a new edition of this work, bringing it up to date with the wealth of publications that have followed since its first appearance.

When I attended the MLA Convention in San Francisco in 1998, a colleague pointed out Ruoff at one of the sessions sponsored by the Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures. I must admit that I was surprised the first time I saw her because I was not expecting a non-native woman to be the author of a text that held so much information about American Indian literatures. Devon Abbott Mihesuah (Oklahoma Choctaw) writes, "I do not agree with the concept of essentialism—that only Natives 'know' about Natives—nor do I believe that only members of a tribe can write accurately about that tribe. Many non-Natives write perfectly acceptable works about Natives because they know and understand their subjects."¹ In my naive essentialist assumptions, I incorrectly reasoned that knowing so much about American Indian literatures would require a native scholar. That mistake helped me learn that non-natives could write acceptable works about American Indian literatures if they did their research and understood their subjects. I applaud Ruoff's scholarship and dedication in American Indian literatures, and I would hope that her example will be a model for others in the field to emulate.