3 On Seeing and Being Seen

Guiding Questions:

1. The author’s life is changed by reading the work of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. It is the first time she has read another author who has captured Indigenous experience as she knows it. Describe a similar experience you’ve had reading an author who wrote of a world you’d previously not found represented. How did it change you?

2. Appropriation of Indigenous characters and stories by non-Indigenous writers is a theme in the chapter. What are the two examples the author cites?

3. In this chapter, a non-Indigenous author claims people concerned about inaccurate representations and cultural appropriation were stifling free speech. What is your opinion of this defence?

4. “As early as 1893, Mohawk writer Pauline Johnson criticized how white writers portrayed Native women” (p. 27). Who was Pauline Johnson? What is her significance in Canadian and Indigenous literature? Do you think this criticism is still valid? Why? Why not?

5. Elliot writes: “… writing with empathy is not enough… Empathy has its limits – and contrary to what some may think, it is possible to have both empathy for a person and still hold inherited, unacknowledged racist views about them” (p.  29). Do you think this is true? If so, what can you do about your inherited, unacknowledged racist views to become a better writer and human being?

6. Elliot writes: “To truly write from another experience in an authentic way, you need more than empathy. You need to write with love”(p. 30). And “If you can’t write about us with a love for who we are as people, what we’ve survived, what we’ve accomplished despite all attempts to keep us from doing so; if you can’t look at us as we are and feel your pupils go wide, rendering all stereotypes a sham, a poor copy, a disgrace – then why are you writing about us at all?” (p. 30).  What is your response to this? Are you now afraid to include any Indigenous characters or content in your work? How might this challenge also be laid down to writers who wish to write about any other experience other than their own?

7. On page 26, Elliot writes, “I shudder to think of how their grandchildren would react if they read the story and saw how the powerful ceremony their ancestors fought for was turned into racist, colonial poverty porn.” What ceremony is Elliot referring to? What is “poverty porn”? What are other examples of this?

8. The 2019 film The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open has also been criticized by some as poverty porn, but the makers (and many others) believe it is portraying a reality. “Trauma Drama” is another term that is used to dismiss such work. What does it mean? How can trauma and poverty be presented in responsible and human ways, with empathy? What context does it need?

9. On page 27, Elliot brings up the thorny topic of “diversity”. She quotes Tania Canas as saying that “Diversity is a White Word”. Elliot explains this in terms of white people wanting ethnic restaurants that offer exotic flavours. Do you agree? What does diversity mean to you? How can we achieve more diverse representation, communities, literature?