First-ever national Aboriginal editors' circle "historic"
- Andréa Ledding | July 08, 2014
The first-ever Aboriginal Editors Circle was held in Saskatoon this June, with twelve participants from across the country working together. A joint initiative of the Saskatchewan Arts Board, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild, Joanne Gerber first saw the need several years ago while working in publishing.
"It broke my heart to see these manuscripts come in, and nobody knew what to do with them," Gerber noted at the Gabriel Dumont Gallery, which began the week-long experience. Lyndon Tootoosis provided prayers and guidance as an Arts Elder, while other sponsors brought forth words of encouragement and support before the Circle commenced. Marilyn Dumont described the program as "ground-breaking, historic, and crucial" while instructor Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm echoed this sentiment, describing the process as "invaluable" not only in skill acquisition, but in creating a circle of peer support and shared mentorship for an isolating practice.
"I think everyone who was here had that opportunity to just really think about editing and relationships...To think about editing as a cultural practice, and what that means," noted Akiwenzie-Damm. "I hope that were able to continue to stay together, maintain this association, this group, this circle that we've started...I hope that we find ways to allow that to continue and to support each other, and to feel that we have a stronger voice together."
Instructor Greg Younging echoed those hopes; with his decades in the publishing industry, Indigenous writers often spoke of how their non-Indigenous editor misunderstood, watered down, white-washed, or altered work inappropriately because they didnt understand some of the cultural aspects of the writing.
"Editing is one of the many facets of colonization and decolonization; that Indigenous peoples have been written about by non-Indigenous peoples, and this body of literature has created stereotypes that have contributed majorly towards the problematic stereotypes that exist," Younging said. "And there's actually a way to present books and writing that is more in tune with Indigenous peoples perspectives and it's more respective of Indigenous peoples' cultures. It's the actual fine-tuning of the words, and that's what editors do...The writers write their truths, Indigenous writers write their truth, but they could be helped along by an Indigenous editor who understands what they're trying to do, more than a non-Indigenous editor."
Joanne Arnott emphasized the high level of expertise and variety which the dozen participants brought to the circle, as well as the productiveness of the program because it was so grounded in ceremony and cultural practice.
"There was not a strong division between the faculty and the participants because we're all mature writers; some at earlier stages of their career and some further along, but there was a real sense of peers."
Instructor Karon Shmon said the circle "reaffirmed the need for Indigenous perspectives and viewpoints to be informing the work of all literature that is produced, and especially for the mainstream publishers to have a different, more informed look at Indigenous authors' work so that the voice of the Indigenous authors and community is not lost."
She also hopes funders and program developers continue.
"These programs are tenuous but we see a need for this as capacity-building for future editors, and to build the momentum so that we have an even larger group of people who have been through it and can be supportive of one another."