In an interactive livestream conversation hosted by Native American
Yale Alumni (NAYA), Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle 03, the first
enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI, one
of three federally recognized Cherokee tribes) to publish a novel,
discussed her experiences and evolution as a writer, Native Americans
in publishing, and the importance of storytelling in Native American
culture.
Moderating the conversation was Ashley Hemmers 07, the chair
of NAYA and chief administrative officer of the Fort Mojave Indian
Tribe, a sovereign nation based in a tristate reservation in California,
Arizona, and Nevada.
NAYA is the shared identity group dedicated to connecting and strengthening
the Yale Native community
The former executive director of the Cherokee Preservation Foundation,
Clapsaddle has been an educator for a decade and currently teaches
English and Cherokee Studies at a high school near where she was
born and raised in western North Carolina. She said that while teaching
is her foremost passion and calling, she has been an inveterate
writer since elementary school and, on a professional level, has
authored everything from poetry to childrens books to nonfiction.
And, now, fiction.
Even as We Breathe, her debut novel, published in September,
is about a young Cherokee man who, eager to escape his hometown
in North Carolina, takes a summer job at a resort where Axis diplomats
and families are being held as prisoners of war during World War
II.
Clapsaddle said a major motivation for her as a writer is to create
works that resonate strongly with her students and characters with
whom they can identify.
I always have my students in my head in terms of audience,
she said. I want them to see themselves in the narratives.
Identity, family, place, sovereignty, racial dynamics, and belonging
were among the themes she explores in her writing themes
that evoke important questions and discussions in Native American
communities, like, What does it mean to be a citizen of the
United States when often times your citizenship is questioned?
she posed as an example.
Clapsaddle said she feels a special obligation to write about her
community, whose members rarely, if ever, see, hear, or read about
themselves, their lives, or their culture in mainstream media or
popular culture. Highlighting this point, she quoted an EBCI student
who lamented, People just dont write about folks like
us.
Not if she has anything to do with it, declared Clapsaddle, who
added that there is no shortage of experiences and stories she can
share as a writer.
There are plenty of stories I feel led to tell about where
Im from, she said.
On Storytelling
In discussing the prominence of storytelling in Native culture,
and its significance as a cultural heritage and tradition, Clapsaddle
recounted that it was a constant in her life growing up and
continues to be a regular feature at family events and gatherings.
Its very common to go to a family gathering and people
will be sitting around and launch midstream into a story you didnt
realize was gonna be a whole thing, she said, joking that
this is one of the reasons why family gatherings, and conversations
with family members, can become long, drawn-out affairs.
Humor aside, she extolled that storytelling goes beyond mere entertainment
and rote tradition. It continues to play a crucial role in imparting
knowledge, history, values, wisdom, and life lessons something
she believes is not exclusive to Native communities.
There has always been a sense of storytelling in my community
to teach value systems and life lessons, she said. And
thats not unique to Native communities; all communities have
that type of storytelling.
She was mindful, however, that storytelling in Native culture tends
to get romanticized and stereotyped in pop culture she mentioned
the common scene portrayed in the media of elders sitting by the
campfire telling old stories about how the world began and
cited this as both a challenge and an imperative for Native American
writers.
Its one thing to tell, Oh, this is what happened,
and to tell it in a structure thats typical for mass media,
she said. But its another to embed our value system
in the voice that is telling the story.
On Writing and Native Writers
In responding to questions about her writing process and tips and
advice for other writers, Clapsaddle emphasized the importance of
writing with an authentic voice that is distinctively and uniquely
ones own, and to avoid mimicking or copying other writers.
Dont try to write like anybody else, she said.
As a teacher, I dont try to teach like anybody else,
and I cant, and nobody can teach like I teach, and I think
the same is true for writers.
She added that getting the voice right one that connects
strongly with readers is particularly important in novels
and advised writers to think carefully about the development of
their characters.
Make sure you know the motivation of your characters,
she said. Every character will have a motivation and it will
drive the action.
She added that writing, as a craft, is an iterative and sometimes
painstaking process that requires discipline, perseverance, and
the ability to humbly receive creative input from others.
You cant get confidence if everybody is telling you
that its great, its great, she said.
Confidence really comes in the critique and working through
that critique.
While concerned that Native American writers continue to constitute
a very small cohort within the literary world, she was encouraged
that more of them are getting published and, increasingly, their
voices, experiences, and stories are getting heard.
Every Native community is different, she said. There
is enough room in the publishing industry for all those different
stories.
Eastern Band
of Cherokee Indians
Cherokee is a sovereign nation, meaning it has its own laws, elections,
government, institutions, and the like. Though it certainly has
relationships with the United States federal government and the
North Carolina state government that are vitally important, students
and the general population may be interested to know that the Cherokees
are self-governed and autonomous.
https://ebci.com
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