Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Rethinking Columbus Day: Native American Romance



In fourteen hundred and ninety two,
Columbus sailed the ocean blue...



As I write this post (on Monday), many readers in the United States have the day off from work, in celebration of the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival on American shores some 500+ years ago. The anniversary has been an official federal holiday here in the States since 1937, and is currently a state holiday in all but three American states. As a schoolchild, I remember making paper cut-out models of Columbus's three ships in art class, and studying Columbus and other European explorers who set out to disprove the commonly-held notion that the world was flat. We heard little to nothing about Columbus's harsh treatment of the native peoples he encountered, his investment in slavery, or his own rather unsavory personal character during our lessons, Columbus and his holiday having come to be used to celebrate American patriotism and the inevitability of European domination of the peoples inhabiting the Americas before Columbus's arrival.

My daughter's elementary school took a different tack toward Columbus, a tack I much prefer. "Re-thinking Columbus Day" asks students to look at the Columbus's "discovery" of America not only through a European, but also through an American Indian lens. So I thought I would apply this thinking to today's column, by taking a look at romances featuring Native American characters.

Running a Google search for "Native American romance" or "American Indian romance" is a bit disheartening. The Goodreads page for Native American romance features books with covers primarily from the bodice-ripping period, with dark-skinned native men hovering menacingly/sexily over light-skinned women with alarmingly low-cut blouses or dresses. "Savage" and "Wild" feature prominently in many titles, as do the names of the more familiar (to whites) native tribes. Most are historical romances; as the people at Oyate, a group devoted to reviewing books for children with Native American content, note, "Many non-Indian people—including authors and publishers—seem to have the notion that Indians are 'history,' cut off somewhere in the early 1900s, or at best marginally existing on a few reservations." Contemporary romances featuring American Indian characters are disappointingly difficult to find.

But in a blog last month, Heroes and Heartbreakers' columnist Janga highlighted the work of one writer who has spent her career working to depict contemporary native peoples, demonstrating how their political struggles often impact their romantic lives. Here's the opening paragraph of her blog:

Truthfully, when I think of Native American characters in romance fiction, the first image that comes to mind is a bodice ripper from the 1980s with a bare-chested Native American hero on the cover and a distressing use of stereotypes between the covers. Then, I remember the books of Kathleen Eagle and am reminded that my first image is not the whole of Native American romance.


You can find the rest of Janga's post here, a post well worth the read.

So, in celebration of Re-thinking Columbus Day, I've just ordered a copy of one of Ms. Eagle's titles via interlibrary loan, and hope to report on my reading in a future post.

Will you join me? Or let us know about other romances featuring Native American characters that avoid indulging in either "noble savage" or "uncivilized Other" stereotypes?

12 comments:

  1. Rebecca Zanetti's "Against the Wall" and "Under the Covers" both feature Native American heroes in a contemporary setting. They also include tribal politics and just a touch of mysticism (in a charming way).
    "Mystic Cowboy" by Sarah M. Anderson is another contemp. that takes place on an Indian Reservation. This book highlights the economic hardships of reservation life and has a bit of a mystery plot along with the romance.
    I liked both Zanetti's and Anderson's books because of the "just people with a hint of other" sensibilities which reminded me of the tv series "Northern Exposure" or the film "Thunderheart" which are two of my favorite on-screen depictions of Native Americans.
    I've never read any historical romances with Native American characters that I can recall -- they've always looked to me like they would have the "noble savage" volume turned up to max.

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  2. Ruth Wind/Barbara Samuel has several category romances with Native American characters, who are not utter stereotypes. I read an early Iris Johansen, The Lady and the Unicorn, whose heroine is Native American, not thoroughly stereotypical, not in a negative way, but the hero keeps referring to her as "little earth mother." Which drove me nuts, that whole woo-hoo mystical stereotype.

    Though not romance per se, there is a romantic thread running in them, the Dine-set mysteries of Tony Hillerman are really good.

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  3. Thanks, mepamelia and Miss Bates, for the recs!

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  4. As I read your post, I was thinking, "What about Kathleen Eagle?" So it was with a sigh of relief that I finished the article, and I felt a little bit of envy that you get to read her for the first time. (I really feel that way all the time with people who are discovering wonderful authors with large backlists, like Ann Maxwell/Elizabeth Lowell, who coincidentally wrote the "Thunderheart" movie tie-in book with her husband, Evan Maxwell, or not so large ones, like Mary Stewart.) Some authors that come to mind as having Native American influences are Dinah McCall and Modean Moon, but I can't recall specifics right this moment. It's not a Romance, but Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (St. Germaine books/historian par exsalonce) wrote a few mysteries with the main character, Charlie Spotted Moon, an Ojibway attorney.

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    1. Oh, yes, those books/authors you can't wait for people you like to discover! Just got word that the book I requested from Interlibrary Loan is in, so I'll be off this afternoon to pick it up. Thanks for the other recs, too, CynthiaZ.

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  5. I loved Louise Erdrich 'The Round House' not exactly a romance but so much more. Life at the reservation (contemporary) is depicted in a real, matter of fact way, as far as I could tell, being that I have no real experience to compare to.
    Sofia

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    1. I've read Erdrich's children's books, but not her adult work. Thanks for the rec, anonymous.

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  6. Ack - just had comment fail, after writing too much about several authors I have enjoyed with strong Native American characters. Not so much traditional genre romances, but very central romances, with some HEAs, in historical fiction. Sara Donati, Beverly Swerling, Lucia St. Clair Robson. Hope this comment works!

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    1. Thanks, pamela1740, for the recs. I'm looking forward to exploring!

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    2. Robson's novel about Cynthia Ann Parker is particularly strong, though the least like a traditional romance, since the end is not happy. But the romance is completely central to the story. With historical figures as protagonists, however, she was constrained to follow the general outlines of the history.

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  7. Storm of Shadows, part of a PNR series by Christina Dodd, features a Native American hero.

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  8. I recently started a series of Native American Romance Novels. My first book is Little Sparrow, A Kiowa in Love. It is a love story about honoring your heritage and finding you way.
    Find your inner Indian, find you love or grandfather will do both for you whether you want him to or not!
    Available FREE on Kindle Select or on sale for 1.99 til 12/31. I hope all who enjoy contemporary love stories will enjoy my Romantic Comedy.
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PL24GXE/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

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