“What do you call 32 Cherokee in one room?”
I listened to presentations by N. Scott Momaday and Drew Hayden Taylor yesterday. Both were inspirational talks. Scott Momaday’s meandering, eloquent and literate speech highlighted the importance of oral tradition in literature and the need to preserve the strengths of that tradition even today. He also read us one of the short plays from his upcoming book, a discussion between the characters of Yahweh and Ursett the bear on writing.
Drew Hayden Taylor’s speech was on native humor, and it highlighted some aspects of native American culture that I simply had not considered before. In the humorous, almost irreverent way of his delivery the audience learned about things usually ignored. He stressed the need for analysis of native humor as a way of healing and expressing their feelings about 500 years of colonization and oppression. In making humor out of distinctly non-humorous circumstances, the native Americans are empowering themselves and taking back their history. Inspirational stuff, and definitely something to think about.
After the formal part of the occasion was over, I had the chance to down a few beers with Mr. Taylor in a Helsinki pub. We talked about nothing in particular, but what struck me was how down to earth a relatively famous author/playwright/columnist and a museum curator of the Canadian Agriculture Museum (who was also with us) can be. I look forward to the rest of the Maple Leaf and Eagle conference of 2006.
Oh yeah. “One fullblood.”