The Sacred Hoop

Almost thirty years after its initial publication, Paula Gunn Allen’s celebrated study of women’s roles in Native American culture, history, and traditions continues to influence writers and scholars in Native American studies, women’s studies, queer studies, religion and spirituality, and beyond

This groundbreaking collection of seventeen essays investigates and celebrates Native American traditions, with special focus on the position of the American Indian woman within those customs. Divided into three sections, the book discusses literature and authors, history and historians, sovereignty and revolution, and social welfare and public policy, especially as those subjects interact with the topic of Native American women.

Poet, academic, biographer, critic, activist, and novelist Paula Gunn Allen was a leader and trailblazer in the field of women’s and Native American spirituality. Her work is both universal and deeply personal, examining heritage, anger, racism, homophobia, Eurocentrism, and the enduring spirit of the American Indian.  

“Provocative and illuminating.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“In these beautifully written essays, Paula Gunn Allen . . . makes a vital contribution to American Indian and feminist scholarship. . . . Allen brings to vivid life America’s powerful female roots.” —Booklist

“A landmark collection which may prove as important to American Indian women as Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex has been for Western non-tribal women.” —New Directions for Women

“Paula Gunn Allen presents her material forcefully, gracefully, and . . . quite convincingly.” —Yvone J. Millspaw, Harrisburg Community College

“Allen’s life experiences as a Ph.D. in the field of Native American studies and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and more important, as a Laguna Pueblo/Sioux woman who believes that personal and cultural truth are inseparable and vital to survival, form the bias of this book. It is precisely this bias that gives The Sacred Hoop its power and insight as a commentary on the perceptions and priorities of contemporary Native American women and as a source of information for those who continue to seek more than sociological and bureaucratic definition.” —Los Angeles Times

Paula Gunn Allen (1939–2008) was a poet, novelist, and scholar whose work combined the influences of feminism and her Native American heritage. Allen received both a BA in English literature and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Oregon. She received a PhD in Native American studies from the University of New Mexico. One of the foremost scholars of Native American literature, Allen has edited several books on the topic in addition to publishing her own works of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.