ON STAGE
THOMAS KING: AUTHOR'S TALK
Where: Ceremonial Hall, First People's House, University of Victoria
When: Tonight, 7 p.m.
Admission: Free
Thomas King's new book, The Inconvenient Indian, boasts a tongue-in-cheek dust cover.
It's a reproduction of a 1930s-era Italian poster hanging in King's home in Guelph, Ont. The image shows an ocean liner careening toward North America. Beholding this wondrous sight is a spear-carrying Indian in full headdress.
"This was [Europeans'] notion of what North America looked like, Indians behind all the palm trees," King said over the phone with a wry chuckle.
Tonight, he visits the University of Victoria to talk about his book, whose full title is The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America. Released this week, it's an entertaining and revealing look at the history of native/non-native relations on this continent.
King, one of sa国际传媒's leading native intellectuals, writes in The Inconvenient Indian about figures such as General Custer, John Smith, Will Rogers, Louis Riel and Pocahontas. He examines historical events, including the American and Canadian governments' handling of native policy, ranging from the notion of assimilation and residential schools to the contentious issue of land claims.
And, along the way, he pokes fun at the stereotyped image of the Indian in popular culture.
"I have to point out," he writes, "that there are more cartoon characters - Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Winnie the Pooh, Snow White, Big Bird - and more dogs - Strong-heart, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin - who have stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame than Indians."
King, 69, is known to CBC Radio listeners for The Dead Dog Caf脙漏 Comedy Hour. The comedy program, which ended in 2000, was inspired by his novel Green Grass, Running Water. King, who holds a PhD in English and American Studies, recently retired as a creative writing professor at the University of Guelph.
He's been a native affairs activist since 1968.
Doubleday sa国际传媒 approached him to write a book suitable for high school and university use. King agreed, although his aim was to create something entertaining for the general reader as well. He was interested in the project partly because he'd noticed a dearth of good books on Indian history - especially ones examining overarching patterns of native/white interactions.
The Inconvenient Indian investigates his notion of the "Invisible Indian" and the "Dead Indian." The former is his term for the contemporary First Nations person who, says King, is mostly ignored in North American culture.
"Sort of like me, for instance," King said. "I think I am, in large part, invisible. And I think a lot of native people are pretty much invisible."
The figure lurking on his book's dust cover, meanwhile, is typical of the "Dead Indian." This is the stereotypical image prevalent in pop culture, the Indian in full traditional regalia.
"You see Dead Indians everywhere," King writes in The Inconvenient Indian. "Rodeos, pow-wows, movies, television commercials."
On the phone, he added: "We're not that clich脙漏.
We're not that stereotype. We're not that easily recognized touchstone for Indians."
If there's a single attitude in white society King would like to see changed, it's the prevailing notion that Indians in North American are a "conquered people." And, as such, they ought to cede their land claims.
The reality, says King, is that historically, whites and Indians mutually agreed waging war was tedious and expensive - monetarily and in terms of human lives. A shared decision to live in peace, as separate nations, was made.
"There was never a conquering. There was a series of agreements that have been broken over and over again," King said.
Another reason for writing The Inconvenient Indian was simple enough - King wanted to push native history to the front burner. In these tech-happy days, he worries a tsunami of electronically purveyed information is crowding out what's important.
"I don't know if we're quite as smart as we used to be. But maybe that's just the old curmudgeon in me," King said. "I suppose I should have The Inconvenient Indian app for cell-phone."
