Black Elk Speaks - Academic Controversy

Academic Controversy

Because the book credits John Neihardt as the author and not just the editor, scholars and Native Americans have debated the accuracy of the account, which has elements of a collaborative autobiography, spiritual text and other genres. The Indiana University professor Raymond DeMallie, who has studied the Lakota by cultural and linguistic resources, published a book in 1985 including the original transcripts of the conversations with Black Elk, plus his own introduction, analysis and notes. He has questioned whether Neihardt's account is accurate and fully represents the view of Black Elk.

As noted, in the course of producing the book, Black Elk spoke to his son, who translated the story into English for John Neihardt, who with his daughter Enid made notes on the talk. Neihardt used their notes as the basis for his account. The primary criticism made by DeMallie and similar scholars is that Neihardt, as the author and editor, may have exaggerated or altered some parts of the story to make it more accessible and marketable to the intended white audience of the 1930s, or because he did not fully understand the Lakota context. Late twentieth-century editions of the book by Nebraska University Press have attributed it as Black Elk Speaks, as told through John G. Neihardt (Flaming Rainbow). This was the English meaning of the Lakota name which Black Elk gave him, based on one of his visions.