Native American, United States, World, History 

"People of the Seventh Fire" refers to a Native American prophecy of Anishinabe ancestry. The prophecy -a documented oral tradition- tells of a time when a new generation of Native people would work to recover their traditions and strengthen their ways of life.

Dagmar Thorpe, a Sac and Fox activist with experience to Native communities, traveled through traditional Indian Country to meet and interview a cross section of twenty representative voices arising out of the continuing Native traditional community activism. The result is a book, "People of the Seventh Fire", published by Akwe:kon Press at Cornell University.

Across the country, author Thorpe heard the same themes: the Indian experience is locally specific and unique to each nation, culture is largely dependent upon the language, people are actively learning songs and ceremonies that have been nearly forgotten. The world has spiritual as well as physical reality, say the Native traditions. Elders told the author, "We must recover our ways of life or we will forget, our children will forget the source upon which Native lifeways depend."

In "People of the Seventh Fire", Ms. Thorpe presents the voices as recorded, each in its own rhythm. Immersed deep in the process of reclaiming and revitalizing cultural practices and worldviews, the individual voices in "People of the Seventh Fire" provide an ongoing conversation about the peoples in North America.