NOTABLE NATIVE PEOPLE (my book!) in stores 10/19

Siyo Friends! I know it’s been ages since I’ve written here, and a lot has changed in the last year or so. We’ve all been through, and continue to go through, times that would have been unfathomable a few years ago. I hope all of you are finding space for healing and reflection as we move into this next stage of the pandemic.

Even though this space has been quiet, I’ve still been working and writing behind the scenes, and I’m thrilled to announce that my first book will be in stores tomorrow, October 19th! “NOTABLE NATIVE PEOPLE: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present” is an series of fifty profiles of Indigenous people from American Indian, Alaska Native, and Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) communities, with spreads on things like “Settler Colonialism 101,” “Who Belongs?,” “Representation Matters,” “Whose Land are You On?” and more. It’s illustrated by incredible CHamoru artist Ciara Sana, who some of you may know as the creator for all of our art for the All My Relations Podcast!

When I started this blog over a decade ago, I had no idea how far it would take me, and how much things in the world of representations would progress, shift, and change in that time. When I first started writing Native Appropriations, I struggled to find the words to talk about why these misrepresentations were harmful, and then spent years responding to incident after incident in the media, writing impassioned pleas for the non-Native public to recognize our humanity. Hipster headdresses abounded, I got death threats for telling people to not dress as an Indian for Halloween, we got mainstream movies like The Lone Ranger, and Dan Snyder told us he would NEVER change the name of the Washington Racial Slurs (and told us to use all caps). Land Acknowledgements didn’t exist. #LandBack wasn’t a conversation happening outside of Native spaces. It was rare to see Indigenous Peoples noticed or mentioned in any context.

Ten years later, “cultural appropriation” is no longer an obscure academic term (for better or worse!), we have Reservation Dogs and Rutherford Falls, The Washington Football Team changed their name(!), Spirit Halloween no longer sells “Indian” costumes, on and on. There are meaningful conversations happening around Land Back and Indigenous communities in ways that I never could have imagined. Yet, of course, we still have so much work to do.

I realized at some point in all this that tearing down misrepresentations was incredibly important, but that I also needed to be pointing folks to representations to replace those horrible images with–because Indigenous people are so invisible, without a counter-representation or counter-narrative, there could be no forward movement. I also continue to work with Native young folks, and wanted them to have representations that reflected their lived realities and the endless possibilities for their lives and futures.

So, in that space, NOTABLE NATIVE PEOPLE was born. As you can imagine, curating a list of 50 individuals out of millions of Indigenous people was a challenge, and one I took on with care and reflection. I tried my hardest to balance thousands of tribal and Indigenous communities in what is currently known as the US—including Alaska and Hawaii—being mindful of tribes, regions, age, gender, LGBTQ2S+ identities, western education level, historic vs. present, inclusion of Black Native/Afro-Indigenous perspectives, type of life’s work, well known vs. less known, and more. There were color-coded spreadsheets and index cards with shorthand codes taped on my walls as I wrote, trying to make each person count. I sent the list to lots of Native friends and colleagues asking for feedback and thoughts, and the final list is a result of that collaboration.

Writing a book is hard, writing a book in deep pandemic was even harder. As the release approaches, In many ways I still can’t believe it all came together and is actually happening. As I was writing, I was living alone after a rough mid-pandemic break up, going through a really challenging mental health time, teaching multiple courses online, serving as the director of undergraduate studies for my department, was the co-chair of Native studies, and was trying to support all of the Indigenous students on campus as one of the only Native faculty–all while processing the immense loss throughout our communities to COVID. I needed lots of extensions, lots of patience, and struggled to get words on the page. Somehow, through that haze of dark months, this beautiful book emerged.

In a non-pandemic context I know would have approached the book writing differently. I knew everyone was stretched to their limit and struggling, and I didn’t want to burden any of the amazing people in the book with more labor or take their precious time–so I wrote their profiles based on lots of research through publicly available information. I (and my fabulous research assistant Issy!) watched hours and hours of youtube videos of lectures and panels, listened to interviews on podcasts, read articles and books, pulled up tribal newspapers and historic archives, and more. I figured if folks had already put in all the work to do these various interviews and talks, I didn’t want them to have to do it again for me.

But that’s a very non-Indigenous way of doing things. If I had it to do over, I would have approached everyone from the very beginning and worked collaboratively rather than surprising them with a nearly complete profile and asking for approval on a short timeline. I’m deeply grateful to a couple of the elders in the book, particularly Vi Waghiyi, who reminded me of how things should be done, and helped me remember that relationships should always be centered in this type of work. I learned so much, and can’t wait to bring these teachings into my next projects.

This book is meant to be a celebration and a love letter of Indigenous joy. Each of the profiles represents a legacy of ancestors, family, land, community, and ongoing resistance to settler colonialism. I hope that Notable Native People can be a resource, a source of pride and inspiration for Indigenous folks, and a place to learn for non-Natives. I know it’s nowhere near perfect, and there’s no way that only 50 profiles can represent the vast diversity and vibrancy of our communities. So I hope it can be a starting point, a place to begin, and we can continue to celebrate every single Indigenous person past, present, and future as notable, beautiful, and important. 

My deepest gratitude to all of the blog readers who have been here from the beginning or joined along the way, my patient and brilliant editor Kaitlin Ketchum who believed in me and this project from the start, Ciara Sana, my agent Alia Hanna Habib, the team at Ten Speed Press: Kimmy Tejasindhu, Want Chyi, Lizzie Allen, Serena Sigona, Felix Cruz, and Monica Stanton, and of course all of my family and friends who held me up throughout this process.

NOTABLE NATIVE PEOPLE is on sale tomorrow, October 19 where ever you get your books, and can be ordered online from many online retailers and independent bookstores using this link!

Wado to all the Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers past, present, and future–I am forever grateful and know our Indigenous future is bright.

ORDER HERE!