Just for the record, I'm an Indian from Mumbai (formerly called Bombay), India, not a Native American. And the term "Indian" wherever it appears in the following interview and introduction refers to Native American Indian peoples, not the population of the Indian sub-continent. But the issues at the heart of the Native American question are relevant to people everywhere who have been subjugated at any time in their history to foreign rule or racial oppression. Because, finally, they are human issues. And that humanity is what binds all of us. The need for dialogues such as this one is greater than ever. In that spirit then...
"For 500 years, other spoke for us."
Craig S. Womack in conversation with Ashok Banker
How would you describe the situation of Native American literature today?
For 500 years, other people spoke on our behalf. Now, we're finally speaking for ourselves. All these centuries, we've lived in a kind of historical limbo. That's changing now.
How did these changes come about?
Access to education has made a difference. I'm the first from my family in this generation to go to college and university. There are a lot of our people in boarding schools today, turning into American citizens - mainstreaming themselves. Over the '60's and '70's a lot of Native Americans began to stand up for their rights. Protested for Fishing, Hunting, Land rights. (Grins) They stopped being so well behaved as they were before. Now, Red Power and Red Pride are two key phrases you hear everywhere. And it's a reality, not just a catchphrase. A completely different mindset, believing that American Indian culture exists in its own right.
How did this affect American Indian literature?
Activism led to authoring. It gave our people confidence that we could stop being the subjects of non-Indian stories, and become authors of our own stories.
What led you to write Red on Red?
I grew up reading Native authors and reading how other critics read them. I found that publishers, editors, book reviewers, critics, all these people publishing and commenting on Native literature were from outside our community. And they were applying their principles of literature to these Native works. But really there is no one right way to read the literature of a community. Any way is as legitimate as another. But if you try to see it as a local, grassroot-level dialogue between the text and the community in which it's set, you get so much more out of it. By reading with a sensitivity to local Native issues, relevant to our own people, you get so much more from the text.
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Ashok,
This is primo and thoroughly fascinating. A story teller is a story teller is a story teller.
I'm reading a 1958 book - and academic book - on the Negro Folktales tradition, which being academic comes across as odd (50 cents at book sale). The author - name escapes me at the moment - talks about how this story or that falls into the §351.1.3 category of vulture fools bear.
Thanks. Looking forward to the next piece - especially if it's new.
2 - Ashok K. Banker
Thanks, Temple. As my grandma used to say, I appreciate the appreciation!
I'm mixing the new with the old. Am almost out of the old now anyway, so you'll be seeing solely new pieces by me from here on out.