Band councils should recognize importance of literature

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Craig Womack, a Creek-Cherokee Indian from Muscogee, Okla., is hopeful that the time is not far off when First Nations councils will invest in their people and their culture by printing the written works of their local writers.

"They have to start seeing literature as a way of Native survival instead of always waging war in the court room," said Womack on April 29 at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretive Centre, northwest of Fort Macleod.

Womack admits that many tribes are still caught up with economics and housing for their people, but there are those that can afford to support their authors.

Womack is a teacher in the Native American Studies department at the University of Lethbridge. It's one of the more prominent departments of its kind in North America, yet the largest local book store has a collection of Native literature not even an arm's length wide.

"Chapters has a very small section," said Womack, "and we're right next door to the Blood reserve."

As well, one hour west of Lethbridge is the Peigan Nation.

Part of the challenge that is facing Native literature in making it onto mainstream reading lists is the way that the subject matter is diversifying.

Womack pointed out that in the 1960s and 1970s, when Indian people were reconnecting with their religion and oral tradition, Native works focused on these topics. For non-Native readers, the writing was safe.

But since that time, Natives have found their words stretching in other directions, reflecting other experiences, other thoughts.

"We're really seeing Native writers going off to a lot of different areas," said Womack. "It's really getting exciting."

But while it may be invigorating for someone like Womack, for others it's frightening.

Womack offers as an example Almanac of the Dead, a novel written by Leslie Silko, that is about Native people taking back North America.

"It's an amazing piece of work," said Womack, who adds it has been largely ignored.

Womack pointed out the tendency for one or two Native writers to get the attention of the Western world and thus "rise to the top and get good publicity. A lot of times one person will become the darling of the industry. In Canada, it's Thomas King."

King, a Cherokee, won the Governor General's Award for literature in 1992. He presently teaches English at the University of Guelph.

Native literature, which Womack defines as literature written by Natives about Natives, finds itself in a difficult situation.

"It's what the public wants to hear about Indians, and that's the problem."

Genocide and an United States that is more akin to blood than apple pie is what Almanac of the Dead is about and that is why it isn't popular with the general public.

"Those kinds of things are never going to sell themselves to the American public as when we get dressed up and powwow for them," said Womack. "The genius of some writers is that they can maintain their integrity, tap into issues, but still get something out that the public wants to hear."

The answer may come in band councils helping with publications.

"One thing that constitutes a people is a body of literature," said Womack, who came to the University of Lethbridge four years ago after a friend, who came from the U.S. to do a poetry reading, was offered a position there. She recommended Womack, who at the time was holding down his first teaching position at the University of Nebraska, in Omaha.

"There was no Native studies faculty (there), very little Native students. I was feeling very isolated."

When he arrived on the Lethbridge campus, the Blood band council, in the midst of elections, was holding a forum. The obvious Native presence was all the convincing Womack needed.

Womack has two publication credits to his name: Red on Red, a history of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and Drowning in Fire, a novel that takes place in Creek country in Oklahoma.

"For me, personally, I don't want to write about anybody else but my own community," said Womck. "It's hard enough to get it right when you're talking about your own people."