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

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: [email protected]   (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/   Subscribe to our newsletter here and get out Doing Diversity in Writing Toolkit, including our Calm the F*ck Down Checklist and Cultural Appropriation Checklist: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r3p6g8    As always, we’d love for you to join the conversation by filling out our questionnaires.    Our Doing Diversity in Writing – Writer Questionnaire can be filled in at https://forms.gle/UUEbeEvxsdwk1kuy5   Our Doing Diversity in Writing – Reader Questionnaire can be filled in at https://forms.gle/gTAg4qrvaCPtqVJ36    Don’t forget, you can find us at https://representationmatters.art/ and on https://www.facebook.com/doingdiversityinwriting