Gerry William

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Crees. It’s important in the family and tribal sense to acknowl-
edge those for whom you care. And 1 care so much for her. She’s
crystallized my thinking, and I'm ready to move on. Without
family and tribe, you’re nothing.

A final analogy in this essay. It circles in my mind.

Two years ago I walked into a classroom, where the English
instructor was non-native. The students were a mixture of natives
and non-natives. They’d been discussing the evaluation of native
literature. For the non-native students, it was a matter of catching
up. The allusions and reference points made by such writers as
James Welch, N. Scott Momaday, and Leslie Silko were matters
which they had to come to terms with. On the other hand, the
native students understood these allusions and reference points.
Their questions were shaped differently.

I began my presentation, and realized that the students weren’t
listening, So I changed my approach. Asked them questions. And
their questions were questions which dominate native literature
today.

The native students were angry. How could non-natives prop-
erly assess native literature if they didn’t understand the allu-
sions, reference points, and contexts upon which native stories
depended? How could non-natives take ideas and materials out of
context, and use them in their own writings? Where was the
respect, the following of protocol? Did appropriating materials
for literary purposes come naturally for non-native writers? I've
softened the tone of their questions, but the reader can understand
their anger only if they understand the processes and contexts
involved in the treatment of native by non-natives.

In the Okanagan way, I attacked the question through indirec-
tion. Should natives write about non-natives? At what point does
creative expression become appropriation? At what point does
storytelling take on the aspects of cultural theft?

No firm answers came from this process, at least not in class.
But that wasn’t the point, no more than my grandmother wanted
us to leave with all the answers. Each student of literature should
come up with their own answers to these questions. The problem
is that so few non-native students and teachers feel the need to
question the European processes T've attempted to write about in
this essay. Can native literature and education be delivered by, or

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