I really appreciate this review. It is thoughtful and addresses the same issues I as a writer have had to address in my years of living and working with Native folks. You and I have walked much the same path and have come to view the same landscape with different eyes. It would be good to be on a panel with you at some point to discuss these issues.
For now, I would leave you with only two thoughts.
First, if the task is to bring Native values to the fore in a culture that sorely needs to learn from them, is it not a misdirected critique to frame this effort in terms of cultural appropriation? I would contend that promoting Native values and ways to understand the world is not cultural appropriation so long as I do not claim Native authorship for myself or don feathers and beads metaphorically or otherwise.
Secondly, consider the fact that it is almost invariably white readers who feel compelled to act as moral gatekeepers for the Native peoples in terms of who can and can't write about them. There is a closet paternalism in that approach. Over thirty years I have earned my bona fides not only with but from the Native communities and people. Do you not see an irony in the fact that it was your Native friends who recommended the book about which you are so ambivalent?
I try to honor my role as a guest in their world in all ways and try to remove myself from the role of interpreter or commentator. I guess that by trying to be clear water I am violating some standards in the opposite direction; by getting out of the way and letting the Native voices speak, I am trying to become them or speak for them. You just can't do it right.
Nonetheless, thank you for your thoughtful review. You went to the deep issues and you have my deepest respect for doing so.
For now, I would leave you with only two thoughts.
First, if the task is to bring Native values to the fore in a culture that sorely needs to learn from them, is it not a misdirected critique to frame this effort in terms of cultural appropriation? I would contend that promoting Native values and ways to understand the world is not cultural appropriation so long as I do not claim Native authorship for myself or don feathers and beads metaphorically or otherwise.
Secondly, consider the fact that it is almost invariably white readers who feel compelled to act as moral gatekeepers for the Native peoples in terms of who can and can't write about them. There is a closet paternalism in that approach. Over thirty years I have earned my bona fides not only with but from the Native communities and people. Do you not see an irony in the fact that it was your Native friends who recommended the book about which you are so ambivalent?
I try to honor my role as a guest in their world in all ways and try to remove myself from the role of interpreter or commentator. I guess that by trying to be clear water I am violating some standards in the opposite direction; by getting out of the way and letting the Native voices speak, I am trying to become them or speak for them. You just can't do it right.
Nonetheless, thank you for your thoughtful review. You went to the deep issues and you have my deepest respect for doing so.