Vine Deloria Jr Biography

Native American writer, born in South Dakota, educated at Iowa State University, the Lutheran School of Theology, and the University of Colorado. Deloria, a Sioux, is well known for his historical and ethnographical writings which present the Indian perspective upon modern history. His work gains great satirical power from the inversion of the official historical picture which Deloria uses with considerable wit. Deloria has been executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, Chair of the Institute for the Development of Indian Law, and professor of Native American studies and political science at the University of Arizona. Among his works are Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto (1969), a collection of essays which deals with, among other issues, Indian stereotypes and Indian humour, and We Talk, You Listen: New Tribes, New Turf (1970). Deloria has published a number of studies of Native American religions, most notably God Is Red (1973) and The Metaphysics of Modern Existence (1979), where he contrasts the Indian with the Judaeo-Christian worldview and argues that the new metaphysics can be modelled upon tribal cosmology. His works on the political and legal aspects of Indian–white relations include Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties (1974) and American Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century (1985). See also Native American Literature.