Why do we write?: A Reflection for Indigenous Peoples Day

By Dra. Nora Alba Cisneros

I conceive this post as a public invitation for us to think about Indigenous youth, Uvalde Texas, and our role as educators as we approach the International Day of the Worlds Indigenous Peoples. I ask that you consider the following:

Why do we write? Why write now?

Twenty-two years ago, American Indian educator Scott Richard Lyons asked: What do American Indians want from writing?  Lyons delineated the duplicitous histories between writing and colonization, such as the forced use of English language and writing in boarding schools. Lyons offered a vision he termed ‘rhetorical sovereignty’ as a partial answer to that pressing question of what American Indians want from writing. Rhetorical sovereignty is the inherent rights and abilities of Indigenous peoples to determine their own communicative and writing needs and desires.

Lyons’ question remains pivotal for me as an educator in service of Indigenous youth. What do my students and their communities want from writing?  How does my teaching perpetuate hegemonic racist and settler colonial practices in writing? How can I as an educator support them in their writing needs and desires? And so, serendipitously, the question for me keeps returning.

Why write now?

Here is part of my why: This summer an amazing collective of Indigenous educators and I developed an inaugural college bridge program for Native American and Indigenous students. During the program, the students shared their knowledges about the lands we live on, gentrification, and foods as medicine. Students and their college mentors wrote daily in their online journals, journeying together through some of the painful violence occurring nationwide, specifically the massacre in Uvalde, Texas. Writing became central to our emotional healing and growth in the program.

These experiences prompt me to think about how we can become better Writing Femtors. In previous writing, I identified a Writing Femtor as an educator that centers the writings of Indigenous women and develops collaborative writing relationships. I want to add that a Writing Femtor should also acknowledge the multiple violences committed against the bodies and spirits of students across schools in the United States. In other words, educators that want to write with Indigenous youth need to acknowledge the larger social context that they are asking students to write in and prioritize students writing needs and desires.

Why write now?

Here is part of my why: The families and loved ones of those we lost at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Why? because the sadness and rage are unspeakable, palpable, expansive, and unresolved. Because gun violence-grounded in genocidal histories against Black and Indigenous peoples- keeps robbing us of our youth, of our future community elders and educators. Because the Border/lands continues to be our open wound/herida abierta. Our wound.

In Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to Third World Women Writers, Gloria Anzaldua- ancestor Queer Chicana philosopher, poet and playwright from Texas- wrote that she was compelled to write to “keep the spirit of my revolt and myself alive”.  I feel these words deeply, as a mother to children with smiles and eyes like the children of Uvalde. Revolt we must. As educators in public institutions, we must revolt against the policies and politicians that sustain the violence. We must continue to organize locally to redirect funds and elect different representatives.

We Write now.

The revolts can start with words as well. Lyons’ and Anzaldua’s writings remind us that the written words of Indigenous women and Women of Color have the power to move us. As we approach International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples this 9th day of August, we specifically honor Indigenous youth as writers, visionaries, storytellers, knowledge keepers and resisters. We recognize their rhetorical sovereignty and, if invited to work alongside them as Writing Femtors, we revolt against the multiple systemic expressions of discrimination and violence. We honor them and each other as writers.

In closing, I encourage you to write your own stories, to name the sorrows, the visions, the loves, the joys, and revolts that are part of your lives as educators. Begin by asking yourself: Why do I write? Who do I write with? What do I write for? Grab a pen or keyboard and write, right now.

Article Details
Indigenous Girls Write, Right!? Unsettling Urban Literacies with Indigenous Writing Pedagogies
Nora Alba Cisneros
First Published April 7, 2021
DOI: 10.1177/00420859211003933
Urban Education

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