Indigenous Futurisms

In recognition of Women's History Month, Jan Haaken talks with Grace Dillon about history and emancipatory visions of the future.  Dillon is Professor of Indigenous Nations at Portland State University and coined the term Indigenous Futurisms, paying homage to Afrofuturism.  While uncovering history is vital to the struggle for sovereignty and social justice, Dillon explains how Indigenous people are often cast by white settler culture as buried in the past or frozen in time.  As a literature scholar of Anishinaabe descent, Dillon's work weaves Native traditions and imagery into futuristic settings.  She edited the anthology Walking the Clouds: Indigenous Science Fiction, (University of Arizona Press, 2012)

Image: Cover detail of Grace Dillon, Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction. Art by Beth Dillon.