Singing for Power

The Tohono O'odham Indians of Arizona - called Papago by the Spanish, Bean Eaters by neighboring tribes - have cultivated song much as another people might exalt oratory or craft; yet for the Papago, song was not simply self-expression but rather a form of magic that constrained the powers of nature to human will. Ruth Underhill published the songs she heard sung by Papago elders more than half a century ago, and Singing for Power has since become a classic of Native American literature.