05/08/2007

Beyond Words

Course focuses on portrayal of Native Americans in books

By
Record-Eagle staff writer

Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Lois Beardslee teaches a Native American literature class for Northwestern Michigan College. The class is designed to help readers interpret the ways that Native Americans are portrayed in books.

TRAVERSE CITY — Lois Beardslee starts her Native American literature class for the semester by bringing in children's books on American Indian themes for her students to peruse.

"We spend a couple of weeks with a big box of books,” she said. "It's very hands-on; very exploratory.”

The class, which Beardslee is teaching for the first time this semester at Northwestern Michigan College, is intended to help readers determine which books portray aboriginal people realistically, and which ones misrepresent them.

The first two weeks deal with children's books and the rest is adult literature.

"There's a whole cottage industry of books that misrepresent Indians and every locality has them,” said Beardslee, a member of the Chapleau Band of Ojibwa and Cree headquartered in Chapleau, Ontario.

She reviews books for Oyate, "a Native organization working to see that our lives and histories are portrayed honestly,” as the group's Web site states. She is also a painter and book illustrator who said she has turned down illustrating work for books that perpetuate cliches.

Some of the books that pass on stereotypes would surprise people, she said. Some are highly regarded or have won prestigious literary awards, yet they're often "non-Indian interpretations of what they think Native history should be.”

Not all of the books she objects to were written by non-Indians and not all of those with merit were written by Native Americans, she said.

Some of what she objects to are portrayals of Native Americans as a sterile culture or as mythical people who only exist in the past, and works that present fabricated "legends,” she said.

"People want warm and fuzzy 'how come' Indian stories, like 'how the bear got its tail,'” Beardslee said. Writers often portray "red people” as a curiosity and land that was "free for the taking.”

"When Indians are killed, it's a battle. When non-Indians are killed, it's a massacre,” she said. "There's loaded language that's biased.”

She has consulted with tribal elders on some of her writings about particular books, including popular editions published in northern Michigan purporting to be legends. The elders have found many of them to be "disrespectful.”

On the other hand, there are many good books dealing with Native Americans, she added. Among them is one she assigned the class late in the semester: "My Name is Seepeetza” by Shirley Sterling.

It's one of many books written about mandatory Indian boarding schools that were often contracted out to churches in the 20th century in the United States and Canada — and it's one of the more accurate works on the topic, she said.

"As far as Native American children's literature goes, it's really compared to 'The Diary of Anne Frank,'” Beardslee said.

The students said the class has opened their eyes to some of the stereotypes they hadn't noticed before.

"Lois brought in tons of children's books. I really couldn't always put my finger on it at first, but some of them were unsettling,” said Kate Newton.

For a text, Beardslee uses "A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children” by Doris Seale, a reference work which includes excerpts and critiques of books written about Native Americans. Beardslee contributed several of the critiques.