|
Author
|
Comment
|
Carolyn
Dunn
Registered User
(9/4/03 3:14 pm)
|
Writing Across Cultures
Wow...
I read through everyone's posts and can see that this issue is something that is near and dear to many of us. I in no way promote literary censorship in any shape or form but what I do object to in cultural inaacuracy, stereotypical images presented as fact and cultural misappropriation. As a mixed blood native, for so many many many years our cultures (yes, there is no such thing as the Indian "culture"---remember there are over 500 tribes/langauges/religions and cultures of native peoples in the Americas alone!) have been analyzed and studied yet while people of my grandmother's generation were forced into Indian boarding schools that beat and tortured children for speaking their own languages. The boarding school system was used by the federal government as a tool of cultural annihilation that nearly worked. Ceremonies and rituals that were ancient traditions were lost and have only recently been reclaimed. It was illegal for native peoples in the US to practice our traditional religions before 1978. And still the law that was passed in 1978 recognizing our right to freedom of religion (for some reason the Constitution didn't apply to US Indians) has been chipped away over the remaining years so that our sacred places are now being threatened. If for so many years others have been writing about your cultures and religions in ways that perpetuated stereotypes and misinformation, you would most likely be a little sensitive when it comes to folks not of your cultures writing about your cultures.
That said, we all as writers write about what we know. I was one of those who loved the Wood Wife from the beginning because Terri was writing about what she knew---the landscape of Tucson, which as she stated is filled with traditions and myths of Indians, Hispanics, Arabs, whites, etc. This novel is a novel about the coming together, not necessarily the blending of cultures, but a recognition of the contributions of these cultures to the landscape and the land's reaction to the people. This is what the ancient mythologies teach us in relationship of land to people. In our radio show yesterday we interviewed Loryn and Lena Bommelyn, who are teachers and cultural historians of the Tolowa, Karuk and Shasta tribes in Northern California. Paraphrasing Loryn, he stated that one would never go into someone else's home country, tell them how to behave, how to dress, how to speak, and how to worship. That is just plain rude. In many ways I would never tell any other writers what to write about, only to write what they know. I'm sorry, but no amount of research will give you insight into a culture until you have stepped on the places where that culture lives and breathes. Now this doesn't matter what culture(s) one is born of; stepping on the land will inform one of things not readily available in books or source materials.
Tony Hillerman gets a lot of flack (mostly from Indian writers) on his mystery novels set in Navajoland with Navajo characters and Navajo culture and custom. But he doesn't write in stereotypes. In my mind, this is the difference. If one is going to write about a culture other than one's own, one better be danged sure they know the place, the people, the language, the faith, the day to day events that encompass the culture or else authenticity will always be in question.
Carolyn
PS pls forgive any and all typo's---this new computer and I are still learning each other...
Edited by: Carolyn Dunn at: 9/4/03 4:55 pm
|
Nav
Unregistered User
(9/8/03 10:45 pm)
|
Radio program
>>[Ellen, for those who don't know, is the author of Swords Point, Fall of the Kings, Thomas the Rhymer and other books, and the host of Sound & Spirit , a radio program that combines myth, storytelling and music around the world and
through the ages (www.wgbh.org/pri/spirit).]<<
Yeah, and I sure wish it had an outlet here in L.A.
|
Terri
Registered User
(9/9/03 1:47 am)
|
Re: Radio program
I think you can get it on the Web now. There should be info on their Web site.
|
Nav
Unregistered User
(9/9/03 8:29 pm)
|
Yeah?
I'll look into that. Even though I prefer radio, at least it's one way to hear it. Thanks, Terri.
|
Niniane
Sunyata
Registered User
(9/10/03 12:15 pm)
|
Re: Yeah?
You can try looking at the list of public american radio stations
streaming from the web. The one I listen to the most to catch "Sound
and Spirit) (not being American that's the only way I can) is www.wfuv.org
. They stream it during the wee hours of Saturday morning for E.S.T
and at around Saturday afternoon/evening for me.
|
Nalo
Registered User
(9/10/03 9:43 pm)
|
Re: Writing Across Cultures
Carolyn, I find that nowadays I rarely use the word "culture" in the singular any more. Everyone's cultures are so large and so diverse!
|
Heather
KT
Registered User
(9/13/03 7:29 pm)
|
More on Cultures
This Sunday's NY Times Book section reviews a book on the "hazards and challenges of cultural heritage protection" called _Who Owns Native Culture_, by Michael Brown. It looked interesting, and points out how complicated the issue is, especially in promoting protection for peoples whose cultures have been trampled on. Meanwhile, their cultures' contributions have enriched music, story, art, ideas etc. for others.
From the review:
"Do we want to turn culture into a legally protected resource? Is cultural heritage something that ought to be owned, patented, copyrighted, trademarked, licensed, exclusively controlled or treated as the private property of particular ethnic groups? What are the risks to a liberal pluralistic democratic society when ethnic groups are empowered with group rights? Does the assertion of cultural ownership by indigenous peoples threaten the public domain? Does it hazardously restrict that region of our open society -- the intellectual and social commons -- where members of different traditions can meet, mix, creatively invent hybrid cultural forms and do so freely and without bureaucratic surveillance?"
Here's the link for the review and a selection from the first chapter. (I think it's free for a week, and then the site charges for access):
www.nytimes.com/2003/09/1...HWEDT.html
Heather
|
|
