They don’t have to always be depressing death marches or stories of alcoholism and trauma. They can tell stories that have to do with our culture and our mythos, and they can be entertaining and exciting and adventurous. So it was really important to me to show that Native Americans are still here, and that we will continue to be here, and that our stories can be sovereign. So we don’t seem to get a lot of play or a lot of interest from science fiction and fantasy period, much less putting us in the future. Even now, in the two movies coming out (they’re not genre movies, but I’m thinking of Hostiles and Woman Walks Ahead) they’re all set in the 1800s. They’re often Plains Indians, and they’re wearing buckskins, they’re riding horses, that sort of thing. It’s the 1800s and the Native Americans are dead or dying, and they’re often very limited in scope. Most Native American stories that you see put us in the past. Is there anything you want to add about making this a science fiction, post-apocalyptic story? You mentioned particularly “into the future,” and have talked before about Indigenous Futurism. I think it’s important and incredibly powerful to offer that kind of representation, not just to Native readers so that they can see themselves in the story but to non-Natives, too, so that they can expand their own imaginations and their own ideas about what Native people and Native culture are like now and into the future.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |