DDW S2 Ep05 – Indigenous Futurisms and Writing Indigenous Characters with Prof. Grace L. Dillon

Doing Diversity in Writing

In this episode of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—interview Professor Grace L. Dillon about Indigenous Futurisms and how (not) to write Indigenous characters.

Grace L. Dillon (Anishinaabe with family, friends, and relatives from Bay Mills Nation and Garden River Nation with Aunties and Uncles also from the Saulteaux Nation) is Professor in the Indigenous Nations Studies Department in the School of Gender, Race, and Nations and also Affiliated Professor at English and Women, Gender, and Sexualities Departments at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on a range of interests including Indigenous Futurisms, Queer Indigenous Studies, Gender, Race, and Nations Theories and Methodologies courses, Climate and Environmental Justice(s) from Indigenous Perspectives, Reparations Justice, Resurgence Justice, Science Fiction, Indigenous Cinema, Popular Culture, Race and Social Justice, and early modern literature. (For her full biography, please check out the episode page on our website.)

What Grace shared with us

• Why and how she coined the term Indigenous Futurisms
• What it was like to be a consultant as an Anishinaabe person to directors Scott Cooper and Guillermo del Toro
• Some behind-the-scenes stories about the filming of Twilight
• What true allyship looks like and how we can become an ally
• How we can honour someone else’s story
• Best practices of engaging with Indigenous communities
• Grace L Dillion’s academic email is: [e-mail]

(Re)sources mentioned on the show and other recommendations by Grace L. Dillon, many of which are LGBTQ2+

• Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms, edited by Grace L. Dillon, Isiah Lavender III, Taryne Taylor, and Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay (forthcoming)
• Hachette Australia: https://www.hachette.com.au
• Claire G. Coleman’s Terra Nullius (2017) and The Old Lie (2019) (South Coast Noongar People): https://clairegcoleman.com
• Ellen Van Neerven’s Heat and Light (2014): https://ellenvanneervencurrie.wordpress.com/heat-and-light
• Louise Erdrich’s Future Home of the Living God: A Novel (2017) (Anishinaabe): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34217599-future-home-of-the-living-god
• Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s This Accident of Being Lost: Songs and Stories (2017), Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies (2021) and As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resurgence (2017) (Anishinaabe): https://www.leannesimpson.ca
• Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves (2017) and Hunting by the Stars (Metis): https://cheriedimaline.com
• Waubgeshig Rice’s Moon of the Crusted Snow (2018) (Anishinaabe): https://www.waub.ca
• Harold Johnson’s Corvus (2015) (Cree): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26840855-corvus
• Alexis Wright’s The Swan Book (2013 rpt. 2018) (Waanyi Nation): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18247932-the-swan-book
• Gerald Vizenor’s Bearheart (1978) (Anishinaabe): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/871536.Bearheart
• Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead (1991) (Laguna Nation): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52385.Almanac_of_the_Dead
• Australian First Nations Ambelin Kwaymullina’s trilogy The Interrogation of Ashala the Wolf (2012), The Disappearance of Ember Crow (2013), and The Foretelling of Georgie the Spider (2015): https://ambelin-kwaymullina.com.au
• Indigenous Hawai’ian Christopher Kahunahana’s film Waikiki: http://www.waikikithemovie.com
• Nalo Hopkinson’s many stories, including YA novels Sister Mine (2013) and The Chaos (2012): https://www.nalohopkinson.com
• Andrea Hairston’s novels such as Mindscape, Redwood and Wildfire, Will Do Magic for Change, and Master of Poisons: http://andreahairston.com
• Darcie Little Badger’s Elatsoe (2020) and A Snake Falls to Earth (2022) (Lipan Apache Nation): https://darcielittlebadger.wordpress.com
• Zainab Amadahy’s Resistance (Afro-Canadian and Cherokee): https://www.swallowsongs.com
• Daniel Heath Justice’s The Way of Thorn and Thunder: The Kynship Chronicles (2011) and Why Indigenous Literatures Matter. His story “The Boys Who Became the Hummingbirds” in Hope Nicholson’s edited collection of Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time: An Indigenous LGBT Sci-Fi Anthology (2016) is also explored in graphic novel form in Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, Volume 2 (2017) (Cherokee): https://danielheathjustice.com
• Joshua Whitehead’s Indigiqueer Metal, Johnny Appleseed, and Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction (2020): https://www.joshuawhitehead.ca
• Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, Volume 3, edited by Anishinaabe and Metís Nations Elizabeth La Pensèe and Michael Sheyahshe (2020): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51456434-moonshot
• Deer Women: An Anthology (2017) published by Native Realities Press and headed by Lee Francis IV. (Laguna Pueblo Nation): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38219794-deer-woman
• Sovereign Traces Volume 2: Relational Constellations edited by Elizabeth La Pensèe: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42686187-sovereign-traces-volume-2
• Sloane Leong’s graphic novel Prism Stalker (2019): https://prismstalker.com
• Smokii Sumac’s you are enough: love poems for the end of the world (2018) (Ktunaxa Nation): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41677143-you-are-enough
• Michelle Ruiz Keil’s All of Us With Wings (2019): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40177227-all-of-us-with-wings
• Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties (2017) and In the Dream House: A Memoir (2019): https://carmenmariamachado.com
• Sabrina Vourvoulias’s Ink (2012): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15721155-ink
• Rita Indiana’s Tentacle (2018): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40679930-tentacle
• Qwo-Li Driskill’s Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory (2016): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27777916-asegi-stories
• Tiffany Lethabo King, et. al’s Otherwise Worlds: Against Settler Colonialism and Anti-Blackness (2020): https://www.dukeupress.edu/otherwise-worlds
• Lisa Tatonetti’s The Queerness of Native American Literature (2014): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21944614-the-queerness-of-native-american-literature
• Bawaajigan: Stories of Power edited by Anishinaabe Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler and Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith (2019): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45180942-bawaajigan
• mitêwâcimowina: Indigenous Science Fiction and Speculative Storytelling edited by Cree Nation Neal McLeod (2016): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34105770-mit-w-cimowina
• Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction edited by Grace L. Dillon (2012) (Anishinaabe): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13226625-walking-the-clouds
• Amy Lonetree’s Decolonizing Museums (2012) (Hochunk Nation): https://uncpress.org/book/9780807837153/decolonizing-museums
• The work of Debra Yeppa Pappan (Korean and Jemez Pueblo) at the Chicago Field Museum: https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/staff/profile/2486
• Laura Harjo’s Spiral to the Stars: Mvskoke Tools of Futurity (2019) (Cherokee): https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/spiral-to-the-stars
• Bethany’s Editing Your Novel's Structure: Tips, Tricks, and Checklists to Get You From Start to Finish: https://theartandscienceofwords.com/new-book-for-authors/

This week’s episode page, with Grace L. Dillon’s full bio, can be found here: https://representationmatters.art/2022/02/17/s2e5/

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