Tag / native american heritage month

by booksoverlookedblog

Nov. 2024 Recs: Native American Heritage Month

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November is Native American Heritage Month! Native American Heritage Month was established in 1990 to recognize and celebrate the diverse cultures of Indigenous Americans. There are 574 federally recognized Indigenous nations in the United States. Native Land Digital contains a map which shows the original territories of Indigenous peoples across the globe. I encourage everyone to check it out and learn about the original inhabitants of your area. 

Nonfiction

Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur

“Representation without us is representation done to us.” With these words, Matika Wilbur introduces Project 562, a photojournalism project that shares the lives of Indigenous People across the United States. Traveling thousands of miles, Wilbur set out to interview and photograph someone from each Indigenous nation. (Note: when the project began in 2012, there were 562 federally recognized Indigenous Nations; there are now 574.) Wilbur’s portrait photography is gorgeous, each accompanied by the subject’s story: an Ojibwe man harvesting wild rice; Two Spirit powwow dancers; a woman recounting how boarding school has shaped her family for generations; the teen beauty queen who entered the pageant because everyone told her she wouldn’t win. This work captures the diversity of contemporary Indigenous people while honoring tradition and heritage. Wilbur’s beautiful work is not to be missed, and serves as a reminder that  “Indigenous existence is all around us. It is up to us to listen.”

Fiction

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

Nina, a Lipan Apache teen living in Texas, has family mysteries to solve. Specifically, the last story her great-great grandmother Rosita would ever tell her. There’s one big problem: Rosita told the story in Spanish and Lipan Apache, and Nina has no idea what she was trying to say. As she painstakingly works on translating the story, she discovers more mysteries. Did Rosita really see a fish-girl in her seemingly bottomless well? Why does Grandma get sick when she leaves the land that’s been in her family for generations? And are those mysterious people who come to her father’s bookstore really animal-people from the Reflecting World? 

Meanwhile, in the Reflecting World, Oli is a timid cottonmouth snake reluctantly forced into adulthood. After a rough start, Oli makes a life for himself. It’s not always easy, though he tries to steer clear of the catfish cultists and bear bounty hunters. When his best friend, a toad named Ami, falls ill, Oli is terrified that Ami’s species is facing extinction – a death sentence for the animal-people in this world. If he can get to the human world, maybe he can find out what’s happening to Ami’s species and fix it. With a pair of rambunctious coyote sisters and a red-tailed hawk at his side, Oli is ready to go to the ends of the earth (or fall to it) to save his friend. 

by booksoverlookedblog

Nov. Book Recs.: Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States! Native American Heritage Month was established in 1990 to recognize and celebrate the diverse cultures of Indigenous Americans. There are 574 federally recognized Indigenous nations in the United States. Native Land Digital contains a map which shows the original territories of Indigenous peoples across the globe. I encourage everyone to check it out.

I first became interested in Indigenous American literature when I learned how little there was of it. Moreover, of the literature that does exist, there are many books that rely on stereotypes and myths about Indigenous people. Dr. Debbie Reese (Nambé Pueblo) established the American Indians in Children’s Literature Institute (AICL). Her blog contains book reviews and many resources for learning more about Indigenous Americans. Dr. Reese’s tone can be acerbic and her critiques have not always been well-received but the AICL is still a valuable resource. To find work by more Indigenous Americans, some prominent authors and illustrators to check out are Shonto Begay, Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Michael Lacapa, George Littlechild, Leslie Marmon Silko, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Tim Tingle, and Traci Sorell.

There are many terms used for America’s first peoples: Native American, Indigenous, First Nations, etc. Anton Truer notes that each of these terms are “often ambiguous, and equally problematic” as “Indian.” It is best to use the names that Indigenous people use to refer to themselves and their tribe or nation. As in the October book list, I’ll be using the terms that the authors and characters use to describe themselves.

Fiction

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Daunis Fontain is still trying to adjust to the New Normal. After her grandmother’s stroke and her uncle’s death, Daunis delayed her college plans so she could stay close to home on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. While her brother, Levi, and best friend, Lily, are ecstatic that she’ll be sticking around for another year, some of the elders in her Ojibwe community don’t agree with her decision. Everyone knows how smart Daunis is, and some say she needs to be pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor. Jamie, a striking new arrival in town, catches everyone’s eye, but he seems most interested in Daunis. After she witnesses a shocking murder, he tells her the truth: he’s an undercover agent working for the FBI, investigating a new form of crystal meth, one that’s been mixed with traditional Ojibwe medicines. He and his partner want Daunis to be their new confidential informer. Her knowledge of chemistry, traditional medicines, and the community make her the perfect candidate for this role. Curbing the use of illegal substances would help her community in a major way, but can she really trust the federal government to do the right thing for Indians? And if she does, what dangers will she face? A little slow to start, once the plot gets rolling, you won’t want to put this book down. Dark themes make this book better for older teens and adults.

Give Me Some Truth by Eric Gansworth

Carson has a plan to get off the Tuscarora Reservation: Battle of the Bands 1980. The winning prize is $1000 and a trip to New York City, and Carson’s not letting a little detail like not actually having a band get in his way. He’s pretty sure he can wrangle his Beatles obsessed sort-of-friend Lewis to join him, and soon they’ll be ready to rock. Even his brother getting shot in the ass by a racist restaurant owner isn’t enough to make him lose focus. An old/new arrival to the Rez shakes things up: fifteen-year-old Maggi, who’s moved back after being away for seven years. Her water drum and vocables make her a unique addition to the band, but she wants more than that. Maggi’s tired of making traditional beadwork to sell to tourists, and wants to create conceptual artwork like Andy Warhol and Yoko Ono. But she’s even more tired of being treated like a kid. When Maggi thinks she’s found her first love – and her path to womanhood – she doesn’t see the danger she could be in. There were times I wanted to yell at Carson and Maggi, but their excellent character growth (as well as Lewis’s) lead to a satisfying conclusion in this coming-of-age novel.

The Storyteller by Brandon Hobson

Ziggy has anxiety, possibly because his mom disappeared when he was just a baby. Ziggy holds onto the hope that someday he’ll see her again, though his dad and older sister, Moon, believe otherwise. When he learns that his mom liked to explore caves in the desert, Ziggy thinks there might be a clue in a secret cave, something that the police missed all those years ago. With a little hesitation, he asks his classmate “Weird Alice” to help him find the cave. She agrees, telling Ziggy about the Nunnehi, immortal spirits that can take many forms. If the Nunnehi hid and protected their Cherokee ancestors on the Trail of Tears, maybe they helped Ziggy’s mom, too. Their night trek into the desert begins with a talking coyote (and possible chupacabra) named Rango. Ziggy, Alice, Moon, and Ziggy’s friend Corso have a night replete with supernatural encounters, and some memorable mundane ones as well. Ziggy will see, first hand, the importance of remembering history and the power of stories to connect us to the past.

Harvest House by Cynthia Leitich Smith

After his school’s fall play is canceled, Hughie Wolfe is glad that he’ll still get a chance to participate in local theatre by volunteering at Harvest House, a new haunted house at the crossroads. But Hughie (who is Muscogee) is less thrilled when he learns that the star of the haunt will be the “Indian maiden” whose ghost is said to haunt the town’s crossroads, and that the grand finale will take place on “ancient Indian burial grounds.” And even though Hughie and his friends are tired of “Indian maiden” legends, there is something eerie going on at the crossroads. Someone – or something – is going after Indigenous girls when they’re alone at night. Most locals think it’s a man harassing young women, or the stories are fake publicity for Harvest House. But that doesn’t explain the voices the young women hear, or the strange animal behavior during each of these occurrences. Hughie’s got his work cut out for him. Can he change Harvest House’s proprietor’s mind about using his culture for cheap scares and solve the mystery of the crossroads ghost before Halloween?

Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection

Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection is a folklore comic anthology created entirely by Indigenous American writers and illustrators. Each story has a unique style, and there are several different genres in the book as a whole. “Strike and Bolt” is a sci-fi story of two brothers who represent lightning and thunder on a distant planet, while “Siku” and “The Quallupik” are unsettling tales of horror. My favorite was “Coyote and the Pebbles,” based on the story of how the stars came to be. An important and impressive showcase of talent, there is a second volume which centers around Indigenous spirituality and tradition.

Nonfiction

#NotYourPrincess edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale

#NotYourPrincess is a “love letter” to young Indigenous women. This book is a multimedia collection of visual art, poetry, photos, songs, essays, and personal memories that reflect on the experience of being an Indigenous woman in modern America. Each seeks to defy the stereotype of a docile “Indian princess.” Themes of decolonization, overcoming abuse and abandonment, cultural appropriation, heritage, and identity run through this book. #NotYourPrincess shows the complexity of what it means to be an Indigenous woman in modern America, and includes current topics such as Standing Rock and the Rematriation movement. At its core, #NotYourPrincess looks to the future of Indigenous women, in all its complexity.

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunabar Ortiz

Indigenous peoples lived in the Americas for thousands of years before Christopher Columbus set sail, and yet the history of the United States is so rarely told from the perspective of its original inhabitants. As the title suggests, Dunbar-Ortiz gives an overview of the United States’s history from the perspective of Indigenous Americans. It starts with an overview of life in North America before European settlers, an extensive network of self-sufficient agrarian nations. From there, the book goes on to give the history of treaties made and broken, Indigenous peoples’ roles in American wars, the horrors of residential boarding schools, and the consequences of Manifest Destiny. The history continues beyond Wounded Knee or the Battle of Little Bighorn into the Indigenous Civil Rights movement and activism. The young reader’s edition, published in 2019, includes an extra chapter about Standing Rock and the DAPL pipeline protest. Throughout the book, Dunbar-Ortiz makes the case that the atrocities inflicted on Indigenous people constitutes genocide, and draws parallels between the United States’s dealings with Indigenous peoples in the past and current global conflicts today. By no means is this a “fun” read, but it is a comprehensive and informative one. For those who want to learn more about Indigenous history, this is a good place to start.

Highway of Tears : A True Story of Racism, Indifference, and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid

Highway 16 stretches between Prince Rupert and Prince George in British Columbia, covering 725 km (450 mi). But it’s known by another name: the Highway of Tears. Estimates vary, but 1,200 to 4,000 Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been murdered along this route. McDiamrid gives personal accounts of some of the missing and murdered victims, telling their stories and the stories of those that lost them. She also examines the systematic racism that has forced many Indigenous people into poverty, leading to addiction, crime, and violence. She also brings to light the apathy and uncaring attitudes of many members of law enforcement and the Canadian government toward victims who are Indigenous, and the noticeable silence of the press. This problem is not unique to Canada, and Indigenous women and girls in the United States are far more likely to be victims of violence and sexual assault than non-Native women. This exposé is a tragic reminder of the dangers of racism and indifference, and a call for justice for those who have lost their lives along the Highway of Tears.

Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry, with forward by Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo is the first Indigenous American to hold the title of Poet Laureate in the United States. During her tenure as Poet Laureate, she created Living Nations, Living Words: A Map of First Peoples Poetry. This poetry collection is based on that work.

A poetry collection by the United States’s First People, wherein each poet contributed a poem “based on the theme of place and displacement, and with four touchpoints in mind: visibility, persistence, resistance, and acknowledgement.” Each poem is preceded by a photo and brief biography of its author. Several poems are bilingual, written in the author’s indigenous language and followed by an English translation. The collection also spans beyond the borders of the continental U.S., showcasing First Nation poets from Hawaii and Guam. The book is uniquely organized by geography and theme: “East” for daybreak, birth and beginnings, “Center” for “the belly and the heart of presence”, – poems crossroads, full of affirmation and anger; and “West” which looks forward to the future. Decolonization, identity, and heritage are all important themes throughout the book. The poets are not exclusively from the continental United States, but also poets from Hawai’i, Alaska, and Guåhan (Guam).

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Truer

American Indian culture has long been mythologized, and is often misunderstood, stereotyped, or exploited by non-Indians today. Dr. Anton Truer answers questions that he has received about Indian culture, from the reasonable (“What is a powwow?”) to the ridiculous (“Where are the real Indians?”). The book is divided into several sections, each covering a different topic, like history, politics, religion, and economics. The true story of the first Thanksgiving and Columbus’s arrival in the Americas, as well as the consequences of western expansion are prominent in the history section. He explains policies, laws, and treaties that still affect Indians today, and dispels myths and misunderstandings about Indian culture. Truer answers each question in an informative and conversational way. Throughout the book, he makes it clear to the reader that American Indians are a broad and diverse group, and there is no one-size-fits all answer to these questions. Originally published in 2012, an updated edition from 2021 includes more questions and answers. The backmatter also includes resources for further reading and viewing.