Indian 101 for Writers, Part Five: Walking In Two Worlds

Indian 101 for Writers, a five-part traveling blog series is hosted today on Alison DeLuca's blog, Fresh Pot of Tea.

This series looks at writing about American Indians and gives resources to accurately and respectfully do so.

So hop on over to Fresh Pot of Tea for this last post in our series,
Indian 101 for Writers, Part Five: Walking In Two Worlds.

Indian 101 for Writers, Part 1: Know Thyself
Indian 101 for Writers, Part 2: Know Whereof You Speak (a.k.a. Don't Make It Up or Rely On What You *Think* You Know)
Indian 101 for Writers, Part 3: Keep It Real, People
Indian 101 for Writers, Part 4: Aargh!
Indian 101 for Writers, Part 5: Walking In Two Worlds

This series has truly been a pleasure to create and I hope it will be of value.

Feather Shield Medallion by Kara Stewart

Indian 101 for Writers. Part Four: Aargh!

Alison DeLuca, purveyor of Fresh Pot of Tea, and Kara Stewart, part-time post pusher at Kara Stewart Art in Photography, have collaborated on a new five-part traveling blog series! This series takes a look at writing about American Indians and gives resources to accurately and respectfully do so.

Alison DeLuca is the author of several YA steampunk books. She is committed to adding characters with different ethnic backgrounds to her works, and is always looking for authentic, realistic ways to do so. 

Kara Stewart is Native, an enrolled member of the Sappony, and white, and is a full-time Literacy Coach in the public schools, as well as serves in several Indian organizations, and has a passion for art, writing and Indian education. Her disclaimer for this series, "The views I express in this are my personal views, brought about by my own experiences and many years in literacy and education. I do not claim to represent the views of all Indians, but I do hope writers will find helpful resources and perspectives."

Today we host Indian 101 for Writers, Part Four: Aargh! 
See Part One, Part Two and Part Three.

Alison DeLuca: As someone who has visited Ireland quite a bit, I see misrepresentations and stereotypes about that country. What stereotypes about your culture make you cringe, and how can writers educate themselves about them?

Kara Stewart: The article Myths and Stereotypes About Native Americans by Walter C. Fleming speaks to a few of them. And be sure to check out this awesome list of Basic Indian Stereotypes from Blue Corn Comics. But what makes me cringe the most in books is what I said previously - stereotypes of the noble, nature-loving, ritualistic, spiritual Indian. Hey, I love nature as much as the next guy, but the portrayal and assumption that that somehow is an inherent characteristic because I am Indian is what rubs me the wrong way. The same with the spiritual and ritualistic things. Fair enough, some Indians do practice those things. And many do not. Assuming, as a writer, that those things are inherent because a person is Indian is the mistake.

Tobacco Spicify by Kara Stewart. Don't know why this
picture is here? Research time! Use the resources in Part Two

General stereotypes that many Indians find offensive (again, I say many, not all - I do not pretend to speak for all Indians, what I offer here are my personal views and the views of a number of Natives I hang with - and thank you to Randi Byrd and others for these contributions):

• Indian-themed sports mascots (noooooo, you are NOT honoring us! And if you don't realize that, you shouldn't be writing a book about us).
• Calling a female a squaw.
• Calling Indian women exotic. Compared to what? We don't think we are unusual or 'exotic'. We think we're pretty normal. It's the uncomfortable Eurocentric viewpoint again.
• Dressing up as Indians for Halloween.
• Wearing feather 'headdresses' at sporting events, concerts and the like.
• "Christopher Columbus discovered..."  No, he was lost. If anyone discovered anything, it was Indians discovering this lost person. If you took Part One seriously, you probably have an inkling that written "Indian history" is Eurocentric. Even the first-hand accounts listed in Part Two that are standardly accepted were written by Europeans, and therefore from a Eurocentric perspective.
• Having ingrained thoughts that Indians are lazy and that there must be a reason for that stereotype. Challenge yourself. There are many average weight people who are happy. Many Hispanic people like watermelon. Many white people cheat on their taxes or eat meatloaf or whatever. Why aren't those the stereotypes? It's not a numbers game. Stereotypes aren't accurate representations; they are simply inaccurate labels applied in brushstrokes. Stereotypes maintain an 'otherness' to distinguish from the 'norm'.
• Lumping all "Indians" together instead of realizing that there are as many different Native cultures as there are tribes, each with their own particular culture. Don't refer to "Indians", but to Kiowa, Tohono O'Odham, Penobscot, just as you wouldn't refer to "Europeans" but to Germans, Italians, Swiss, etc. The same applies to teaching about 'Plains' Indians or 'Eastern Woodlands' Indians. There are  no such tribes. Those are geographic regions that hold within them very different cultures from tribe to tribe. 
• Shaman. For many indigenous societies, such an individual is referred to as a person of medicine (may be man or woman). A person who is valued and respected by their community as a person of medicine does not market themselves as such. A true medicine person is known by the community, with no need to advertise or receive money for their services. Anyone claiming to be a shaman or medicine man should be questioned, especially if they are requesting money. This is exploitation. Cultural traditions and spiritual practices are also sacred and specific to the members of those tribes and are not for sale or for open adoption by non-Indians seeking a new experience. Thousands of Indians have died so that their descendants today may have their cultural practices and ways. Respect present day Indians and the blood that has been shed by appreciating our culture, but not by trying to adopt it as your own.
• Just because your great-grandmother was 1/4 Cherokee 'princess', that doesn't make you Indian. Everyone says the "my grandmother was 1/4 Cherokee" line to us. but what do you do for your tribe? What committees do you serve on? How do you give back to your Indian community? What Indian issues are you passionate about and do you give to with your time and effort? In other words, what do you do about being part Indian? Or is it just lore you repeat?
• Thinking of Indians as something of the past instead of being aware of the people who make up the thriving, contemporary Indian Country (which is not a geographic location but a nod to race) in America today.
• Thinking that you don't know any Indians or there aren't any around you. You'd be surprised.
• And I have to say it again, ix-nay on the noble, nature-loving, ritualistic, spiritual Indian. 

Another big stereotype about Indians centers around physical appearance. American Indians can look all different ways, just like other races. You shouldn't assume an Indian has long, straight black hair. Your high cheekbones aren't necessarily proof that an ancestor was Indian any more than my wavy, curly hair is proof that an ancestor wasn't  Indian. In my personal case, my mother's side of the family (white) is the side with stick-straight hair. My father's side (Native) is the side with wavy, curly hair. 

Stereotypes wrongly apply labels and treat all individuals of a group the same. Stereotypes can be both negative ("lazy Indian" "cheap Jew") or positive ("Asians are good at math", "Mother Earth attuned Indian" "happy fat people") but the effect on the individual is the same - a wrongly applied label stings and has further repercussions such as identity issues, anxiety, frustration and anger that carry over into social, academic and professional arenas. Writers can buy into the stereotypes or they can rethink their characters to create real individuals - your Indian or Irish character doesn't have to be drunk, your Asian boy doesn't have to be good at math, your overweight character can be smart and brooding, your Mexican character can hate beans, your gay woman character can be feminine, not butch. Being a person of color or a member of another sidelined group is complex. You can choose to have your characters reflect that. 

Stay tuned tomorrow for the final post in the series, Indian 101 for Writers, Part Five: Walking in Two Worlds! 

Powwow Bustle by Kara Stewart

Indian 101 for Writers. Part Three: Keep it Real, People

Indian 101 for Writers, a five-part traveling blog series, is hosted today on Alison DeLuca's blog, Fresh Pot of Tea.

This series takes a look at writing about American Indians and gives resources to accurately and respectfully do so.

So hop on over to Fresh Pot of Tea for Indian 101 for Writers. Part Three: Keep it Real, People! You'll love it!  

Indian 101 for Writers. Part Two: Know Whereof You Speak (a.k.a. Don't Make It Up or Rely on What You *Think* You Know)

Alison DeLuca, purveyor of Fresh Pot of Tea, and Kara Stewart, part-time post pusher at Kara Stewart Art in Photography, have collaborated on a new five part traveling blog series. This series takes a look at writing about Native Americans and gives resources to accurately and respectfully do so.

Alison DeLuca is the author of several YA steampunk books. She is committed to adding characters with different ethnic backgrounds to her works, and is always looking for authentic, realistic ways to do so.

Kara Stewart is Native, an enrolled member of the Sappony, and white, and is a full-time Literacy Coach in the public schools, as well as serves in several Indian organizations, and has a passion for art, writing and Indian education. Her disclaimer for this series, "The views I express in this series are my personal views, brought about by my own experiences and many years in literacy and education. I do not claim to represent the views of all Indians, but I do hope writers will find helpful resources and perspectives."

Today we host Indian 101 for Writers, Part Two: Know Whereof You Speak.
Look here for Part One.

Alison DeLuca: What advice would you give to writers who wish to include Native Americans in their books? For example, suppose someone wishes to set a book in pre-Columbian society in the Northeast. How should they begin? How about someone writing about present-day Native life?

Kara Stewart: My advice would be to educate yourselves about the culture you wish to write about and to also interview people of that culture. Just as you would research detective work and

Dog and Cabin by Kara Stewart. This cabin is similar
 to those inhabited by many rural residents of all races in the
 Southeastern U.S. in the 18th and 19th centuries.

forensics if you were writing a crime novel, you should research (beyond the normal media) the particular Indian culture you want to write about (realizing that there is no such thing as 'Indians' per se - there are the Hopi, the Choctaw, the Eastern Band of Cherokee, the Sappony. "I'm from the Indian tribe," said no Indian ever. We say, "I am Sappony" or "I am Hidatsa"). And then also, you should take the extra step of actually speaking with people of that culture. You can only gain so much from reading and research, and if you are not intimately familiar with the culture you are writing about , you will have no way of knowing if what you read is accurate, or if it is inaccurate and offensive or something that tribes may take exception to.

Ruta Sepetys, author of the phenomenal Between Shades of Gray, talks about the importance to her book of actually interviewing survivors of Stalin's assault on the people of Lithuania instead of just writing from her research. If she had not taken the time to speak personally with survivors, she would not have captured much of the emotional impact of the events in a way that those survivors feel is accurate and respectful. By interviewing them, she was able to portray their strength and resiliency with powerful impact, and in a way they agreed with. The same is true of writing about Indians.

As far as where to start, after you educate yourself about your place in race in America, one of the best articles I have read that I'd recommend for writers, teachers, and anybody really, is Myths and Stereotypes About Native Americans by Walter C. Fleming (2006). Although written for an education audience, all of the points are salient to writers and good general information. This article addresses a number of general misconceptions and is not tribally specific. An update to this article is that in 2010, 22% of American Indians and Alaska Natives lived in American Indian areas or Alaska Native Village Statistical Areas. This means that the commonly held belief that today's Indians live mostly on reservations is untrue. We're all around you. Don't blink. 

I'd also recommend reading the online Native newspaper Indian Country Today as well as subscribing to Native Peoples magazine and reading things like Urban Native Magazine and

Men's Fancy Dance Colors by Kara Stewart

her blog. These are all ways to educate yourself about contemporary Indian life so that you are able to write in a way that is accurate and respectful. You should come away with a sense of the issues that are 'hot topics' today in Indian Country (such as the mascot issue, the Indian Child Welfare Act and cultural appropriation, for example). You don't have to become experts on these issues, but you should be aware of why they are issues.

And then, obviously, you need to determine what specific tribe and time period you are interested in writing about. The caveat here is that I would strongly encourage writers to choose a tribe that is either federally or state-recognized for the purpose of accuracy since there are many (not all) non-recognized tribes whose representatives are generally what Indians refer to as 'wannabees' and your chance of getting accurate information is far less. Many states have a commission or department of Indian Affairs which has a listing of the state's recognized tribes and federally recognized tribes. In North Carolina, it is the NC Commission of Indian Affairs. In Montana, it is the Office of Indian Affairs.

North Carolina is also fortunate to have an online curriculum guide, Teaching About North Carolina Indians with the tribal information written and/or contributed by the tribes (which is a rarity - usually a non-Indian cobbles together information, many times to the chagrin of the tribes). The curriculum guide, a product of LearnNC and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's American Indian Center, has a lot of good information on North Carolina tribes. Most universities have some sort of outreach to Indian people or organizations to help Indian students that can also be sources of information.

Once you know the recognized tribes, you can contact the tribe you are interested in or browse their official website where there may be some history listed. Using that information, you will then need to do a good amount of research to learn about the particular time period you are interested in writing about in order to make tribal politics, interactions and daily living accurate. These research sources will, then, obviously be location and tribe specific. For my geographic area of Virginia and North Carolina, some accepted first-hand accounts are William Byrd's History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina and John Lawson's A New Voyage to Carolina.

If you intend to write about Indians in a contemporary setting, I would

National Museum of the American Indian by Kara Stewart

absolutely recommend accessing all the resources I listed above to acclimate yourself to contemporary Indian culture in general (hopefully also picking up on what is acceptable/offensive/controversial) and then doing further research on the particular tribe you'd like to write about and their current day status - what are their main concerns as far as education of their children, care of their elderly, jobs, housing, how they are represented in mainstream society? What other issues are at the forefront of their culture? Talk with their young people, their elders.

In sum, my best advice to writers who wish to write about or include Native people in their books is to narrow down the specific tribe and time period you wish to write about and then research, research and research some more. This includes speaking with people in the tribe about whom you are writing, whether you are writing in a historic time or contemporary. Many times, contemporary people in tribes will have opinions on historic events or time periods which will give added depth and perspective to your writing. Remember, while you are striving for accuracy and respect, respect doesn't necessarily mean taking the stereotypical 'noble Indian' route or assuming we're out smoking a peace pipe somewhere. Respect also means telling it like it is. 

More on telling it like it is with great examples of Native characters in the next installment of Indian 101 for Writers, Part 3: Keep It Real, People, coming to Fresh Pot of Tea tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Dance Fan by Kara Stewart

Indian 101 for Writers Begins Today!

Indian 101 for Writers, a five-part traveling blog series begins today on Alison DeLuca's blog Fresh Pot of Tea!

This series will take a look at writing about American Indians and give resources to accurately and respectfully do so. 

Hop on over to Fresh Pot of Tea for Indian 101 for Writers, Part 1: Know Thyself.

Tips, resources, thoughts and perspectives for writers, teachers and everyone. So exciting!

Coming Soon! Indian 101 for Writers

I am crazy excited to announce the five-part traveling blog series, Indian 101 for Writers, coming up next week! My friend, Alison DeLuca, author of the Crown Phoenix Series, which includes The Night Watchman Express, The Devil's Kitchen and Lamplighter's Special, suggested this blog series last summer and we've been working on it since. If you love steampunk, adventure, mystery and fantasy, you'll love  Alison DeLuca's books. Alison was previously a teacher, is an editor and author at Myrddin Publishing and happens to be a fabulous mom. 

If you don't know, I am a Literacy Coach for my 'real' (i.e., paying) job. The school district I work for has a very active district equity team geared toward the success of all students, but focusing on students of color, and I am thrilled to be a part of that since it is one of my passions (along with art, photography and writing). Conversations about race are the norm in our school district and these discussions, while tricky, can be enlightening. Additionally, I have been active in Indian education for about a decade or so and have tried to do my part both at the state and national level to educate about Indians and to improve our stance toward educating Indian youth. I am an enrolled member of the Sappony tribe.

Indian 101 for Writers is (obviously) geared toward writers. However, teachers, school administrators, and really, anyone interested, should be able to get a glimpse of Indian Country and broaden understanding through our series and the resources and tips in it. We plan to load it up to begin next Wednesday starting with Part 1 on Alison's blog, Fresh Pot of Tea, and then popping back here to my blog for Part 2, and so on. I am so grateful to Alison for suggesting this topic, for collaborating with me to implement our concept, and for being my 'traveling host'. My hope is that we will be able to reach many authors, educators and readers in general with accurate information about American Indians, broaden horizons and deepen understanding.

Stay tuned, and remember to check in at Fresh Pot of Tea Wednesday, October 9 for Part 1: Know Thyself!

Basketry Wheel by Kara Stewart