On Monday, Oct. 6, during G-block in room 409, the senior English class Writers of Color had a socratic seminar with a special guest: Robert Warrior, a scholar of Native American and Indigenous studies.
As the block started, English teachers Maria Julian and Janet Kelley introduced Warrior to the class, and he spoke about his academic and personal background as both a scholar and a member of the Osage Nation. Warrior is currently a visiting professor of Native American Culture and Traditions at Harvard.
For their first book of the year, the Julian, selected “There There” by Tommy Orange, a novel about numerous Native Americans living in Oakland, California. Julian said this book establishes a good foundation for the rest of the year.
“I loved the connections the students made last year with it and how engaged they were with the actual story,” Julian said. “I wanted to start my Writers of Color class with a powerful book that kind of set the stage for the whole course.”
Senior Lila Cannon said that having Warrior present in class was a valuable way to engage deeply with the material and its messages.
“I think it was an incredibly powerful experience to be able to connect with someone who has such a depth of knowledge and connection to the Native community,” Cannon said. “It was really interesting to hear his perspectives about consulting on different shows and about the difficulties of telling stories that in the past might not have been so politically correct.”
Warrior is also familiar with “There There,” as he has read it, taught it and interviewed Orange before. According to Julian, having a scholar present enriches the learning experience for the entire class, allowing them to feel the story come to life as it lifts off the page.
“I thought having the opportunity to actually engage in conversation with a Native American scholar made this book authentic learning for them,” Julian said. “And especially since we just finished reading it, to be able to now have their own interpretation of it and then hear from Dr. Warrior his thoughts on the book [made] it that much more palpable, the lessons that come out from reading these books made it come alive.”
The class was broken into three separate groups, each assigned a different lens to read with: post-colonial, psychoanalytic and feminist. Warrior said discussing Native American narratives is important because it brings light to many untold stories.
“Sometimes I think it’s one of the hardest aspects for Native American people to work with is having to do so many things where nobody seems to know they’re even out there,” Warrior said.
The post-colonial group began and avidly discussed the erasure of culture that stems from colonization, digging into themes of generational impact and systemic racism. The second group’s conversation flowed smoothly as they discussed the psychological effects of trauma and how mental health is represented in the novel.
The third group dove into a feminist perspective, sharing their notes about female roles in the novel and the inclusion of domestic violence against women. Warrior spoke about how many female characters in Native American literature are strong and matrilineal groups are common.
Warrior said that he enjoys assisting students by expanding their knowledge about Native Americans through literature and his own studies.
“I’m always interested in helping students see that Native perspectives are contemporary, that they’re real, that they’re happening around you,” Warrior said. “You can find a Native community in almost any place that you look in the United States or Canada.”
According to Cannon, having speakers visit classes allows us to relate the book to our own life experiences.
“Having speakers like this is incredibly important to be able to better understand that these authors who are writing those books have experiences just like us,” Cannon said. “We get to learn more about the books and we get to see those windows into other people’s life, but then also we get to better understand how books also are mirrors to ourselves.”
