Epics of the American Southwest: Hopi, Dine and Hispanic Narratives of Heros and Heroines in Mythic Literature

Too often the claim is heard that there is very little ancient history or literature in the United States. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whether it is the Hopi epics of the wanderings of Long Sash and the exploits of the Koshare twins; the Navajo legends that connect the cultures of the Southwest with the great late-Medieval stories of Toltec-Aztec Mexcio; or the adventures of Spanish men and women who deserted Francisco de Coronado’s expedition in protest over Coronado’s treatment of the Native peoples, Arizona and the whole American Southwest are a treasure trove of epic narratives. This lecture stresses the social and moral messages transmitted in these oral and written texts.

Sharonah Fredrick is trilingual (Spanish-English-Portuguese) and a lecturer on Mayan, Andean and Southwestern Native American history, anthropology and resistance strategies; as well as, cultural history and inter-cultural communication, mythology, the Kabbalah, and religious mysticism of the 16th-18th centuries. She earned her doctorate from Stony Brook University in Hispanic and Latin American literature and has lectured in over 21 countries throughout Latin America, North America, the Middle East and Europe. Fredrick has published articles in Spanish, English and Hebrew on folklore, history, cultural conflict and mysticism and authored full-length plays in Spanish and English, performed in Mexico and at NY’s Julia de Burgos Theatre.