Waterlily Kiowa Jacqueline Keeler examines these episodes

Jacqueline Keeler examines these episodes as two sides of the same story that created America and its deep–rooted cultural conflicts

were forced onto the barren Crow Creek reservation in Dakota Territory with the rest of the Dakota women

the rise of the American Indian Movement in the 1960s

When she realizes she is lost

but where indigenous peoples have agency to transform life on their own lands and on their own terms

Waterlily Kiowa Jacqueline Keeler examines these episodesWhen Blue Bird and her grandmother leave their family's camp to gather beans for the long, threatening winter, they inadvertently avoid the horrible fate that befalls the rest of the family. Luckily, the two women are adopted by a nearby Dakota community and are eventually integrated into their kinship circles. Ella Cara Deloria's tale follows Blue Bird and her daughter, Waterlily, through the intricate kinship practices that created unity among her