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How important is it for authors to be female and FN?

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Fri, 2009-04-03 02:43

#1

Feather Sky

How important is it for authors to be female and FN?

I have always been marginalized in society, both as a woman, and as a First Person, so much so that I have lost sense of the truth after having realized how much of the indoctrination of the privileged I have believed over my lifetime.

Consequently, I strive to ensure my information sources, especially the books that I read are from First nation women. The problem is that there are not that many First nation women authors, and it is not always easy to find the topics that I need with that limitation.

For instance, there are a wealth of books and articles written on feminism, but rarely from a FN perspective. I don't have as much problem finding FN books written by women.

What is your advice? Can it be worthwhile to read books written from the other perspectives?

Fri, 2009-04-03 07:10

#2

Maysie

Maysie's picture

Feather Sky, welcome to babble.

I'm a book person, and worked for almost 10 years in a feminist bookstore environment. I know many feminist Aboriginal authors, on a number of topics, fiction, non-fiction. What sorts of topics are you interested in?

Some books with feminist themes, just to get us going:

Lee Maracle: I am Woman

Paula Gunn Allen: Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing Loose Canons

Kim Anderson and Bonita Lawrence: Strong Women Stories: Native Vision and Community Survival

Fyre Jean Graveline: Circleworks: Transforming Eurocentric Consciousness

Anna Lee Walters: Talking Indian: Reflections on Survival and Writing

In terms of your question, if by "the other perspective" you mean non-FN then, well, it's hard to avoid it! But seriously, yes there is always something to gain from reading books by African-American or -Canadian feminists, as well as Asian feminists, Latina feminists, Arab feminists. I've read lots of books by these authors as well.

And, of course, depending on geography and diasporic histories, many of the above list of authors will also write from a FN perspective.

Sun, 2009-04-05 12:23

#3

Tommy_Paine

I would think Judy Rebick's "Ten Thousand Roses", besides being informative itself, could also serve to point to other sources.

Sun, 2009-04-05 13:08

#4

Feather Sky

Thank you for the answer to my question Maysie, as well as the suggestions.
I've read Lost Days of Columbus, but not I am Woman, I'll have to look for it. I enjoyed her other book very much.

I've read some of the others but not all, so I'll add them to my 'To Read' List.