Prompt: Cultural Traditions, Old and New

 

In the Orvil Red Feather section, there's an interesting exchange between Orvil and Loother (Orange 131). Orvil is trying to explain the importance of carrying on Native traditions like singing and dancing so that they are not forgotten. Loother then brings up the point of just creating their own new traditions. Orvil counters with the idea new traditions cannot be as good as historical ones, just like inventing a new food cannot compare with an authentic Indian taco. 

My prompt, then, is why is it important or not important to keep cultural traditions alive? Does maintaining old traditions matter more than forming new ones? How do characters in There There attempt to do both of these things?

Settler Colonialism

Settler colonists never went away, and their impact hasn't either. Orange incorporates many of the negative effects of settler colonialism into the lives and stories of his characters There There.

One of the main components of settler colonialism was the effort to take away Native land. Native people were forcibly removed from their homes, which is a theme that pops up in Orange's novel. For instance, Opal and Jackie have to leave their home to join their mother at the Native occupation of Alcatraz island. The mother, and maybe the girls themselves, are initially excited to go, yet the experience ultimately fails to live up to its promise. This reminded me of the way many Natives were historically promised to be relocated to suitable land, which ended up being almost impossible to farm. 

Another aspect of settler colonialism that is present in There There is the idea of removing the "Indianness" from Native people. Some of the characters question what gives them the right to call themselves Native. Not having grown up with stories about his Native ancestry, Calvin is not sure he can identify as such. Other Native characters move to reclaim their "Indianness", however. Dene carries on his uncle's Native practice of storytelling with modern digital media. Another example is Tony, who is just as at home with the skyscrapers of Oakland as his ancestors once were with the area's natural landmarks.

When settler colonists forced Native people to separate from their tribes and received individual farms, it was an act of anti-collectivism or forced individualization. I don't think I have encountered any There There characters who live on such farms yet, but there are plenty of characters who embody isolation and loneliness. Edwin, who spent most of his days aimlessly scrolling on the internet, comes to mind. 

Finally, settler colonialism is at its core a form of violence. And just as white settlers inflicted undeserved violence on unsuspecting Native people throughout history, I am worried that Octavio and his gang are going to do the same thing to the powwow attendees as the novel continues.

 

Final Project Update

To be honest, my final project is not my biggest academic priority right now because of other midterms and exams. However, I am still working on it bit by bit. This past week, I expanded my source document by locating a more geographically diverse set of texts.

Originally, I found sources based on stories that I had heard of before but hadn't read. However, this week I used my secondary sources to find pieces of literature that I had not heard of before. This was extremely helpful because I had mostly only heard of pieces from Western Canon, and my secondary sources were able to point me to Asian, Caribbean, and Arabian ones. It's important to highlight these texts because my topic, orphans, is interpreted different by societies across the globe.

While I feel like I doing well in terms of my primary sources, my secondary sources could use some work. There are many articles written about orphans in Western literature, but it is harder to find ones about texts from multiple parts of the globe. What I might have to do is find a source on orphanhood each from a different part of the world instead of a few sources that compare many regions.

My final project will be on Neatline, and I am feeling pretty confident about this aspect. I used Neatline for one of my previous Research Excursions, and this forced me to learn to use the tool. Last week's Neatline lesson helped me learn even more techniques, so I am grateful for that.

All in all, I am feeling alright about my final project and look forward to seeing how it turns out!

Microlecture 2 Reflection

When watching Microlecture 2, I was impressed by the variety of ways indigenous communities documented information. I was reminded of the "John Smith" problem from Microlecture 1 and the history of colonizers only seeing what they want to see. When examining early literature, my guess is that historians originally only looked for examples of literature that they wanted to see; ie. literature that looked like prose English writing.

Yet now, more and more people are understanding that the Anglo-Saxon view of literature is not the only way to define it. I agree that indigenous literature is multimedia, as evidenced by the different examples shown in Microlecture 2. After learning about quipus, wampum belts, medicine bundles, and more, I was continuously impressed by the complexity of ideas they showcased. A common saying is that a picture shows a thousand words. I think indigenous pieces of literature must show thousands. They illustrate histories, numerical accounts, messages, beliefs, stories, and more in such an intricate way.

In this way, Microlecture
2 gave me a greater appreciation for indigenous culture. It also affected my reading of There There. The novel constantly plays with the idea of prejudice and misguided sight, which mirrors the white colonizer's misguided perception of indigenous people. There There also builds on the idea of multimedia indigenous storytelling through storytelling mediums like Dene's video and oral tradition about indigenous legends. Finally, I gain a deeper appreciation for There There because I recognize that it is joining a complex and beautiful legacy of indigenous canon.