ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a brief history of the Cheyenne people, consisting of contrasting elements with mainstream national history of the United States. It discusses how testimonial narratives of the tribe are expressed in public domains as well as at the individual level. The chapter also discusses a cross section between history and memory by studying the expressions of collective memory in Northern Cheyenne testimonial narratives. The concept of collective memory embraces the acts of "recalling" and "narrating." The Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation consists approximately 444,000 acres of land, and about 4,800 enrolled members reside on the land. US national history employs the doctrine of "manifest destiny" that justified the westward expansion of emigrants and their acquisition of land. The Northern Cheyenne narratives make visible how collective memory works at a cross-section between history and memory. By using a discourse based on the collective memory of the ancestral sacrifice, the tribe's counter-history testifies against the national history of the United States.
