Keeping It Real: Simon Ortiz Resists “The San Francisco Indians”

Abstract

F A L L 2 0 1 4 W I C A Z O S A R E V I E W A pervasive theme in Acoma author Simon Ortiz’s extensive body of literature across time is that of maintaining Indigenous identity in the aftermath of colonization, from its earliest predations to its ongoing assaults across seven centuries. “We can’t take Indigeneity for granted,” Ortiz insists in the foreword to American Indian Literary Nationalism. “It is hard and tough enough to be Indigenous, especially against such heavy political, social, and cultural odds. On the other hand, it is too easy to be Indigenous,” Ortiz continues, “especially to be the very image of the Indian who is a foil and fool to the dominant culture and society.”1 To maintain authentic Indigenous identity is no simple matter, as Ortiz’s writing and speaking consistently express, and no single feature of Indigeneity— original languages, living within original homelands, even oral traditions— can be pointed to as representing an individual’s or a community’s “cultural authenticity.” Rather, it is the tightly woven fabric of some or all of these features, and others besides, which Ortiz understands to identify contemporary Indigenous peoples. The reasons for this, Ortiz asserts, are “because identity has to do with a way of life that has its own particularities, patterns, uniqueness, structures, and energy. Because Indigenous identity cannot simply be attributed to only one quality, aspect, or function of culture. Be cause identity has to be relevant and pertinent to other elements and factors having to do with land, culture, and community of Indigenous people.”2 Ortiz’s philosophy connects directly with the United Nations Keeping It Real Simon Ortiz Resists “The San Francisco Indians”