NATIVE AMERICAN PERCEPTION OF NATURE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AS REFLECTED IN MAURICE KENNY�S �BETWEEN TWO RIVERS SELECTED POEMS 1956-1984�

This thesis aimed to explore Native American local wisdom on nature. Native Americans had lived in American continent for hundred years and utilized nature. Their natural condition was green and preserved. They lived harmoniously with nature. This principal was not a slogan but it reflected in their interaction with nature. They believed in the concept of �Mother-Earth�. They also treated Animal and plants as �Brother�. Thus, it makes them treat nature and its entire living things wisely. However, when the European people came and took their land and forced them to move to reservations, they experienced significance changes. The reservation did not support their life. It was infertile, rocky, and dry and also the game was rare. Moreover, the rules in reservations that were created by white people restrict their cultural activities. These problems caused their perception of nature to change as portrayed by Maurice Kenny in his �Between Two Rivers Selected Poems 1956 -1984�. This collection is used as the primary data. Books, journals and many written material including internet-based materials, are treated as secondary data