Smelcer has built a career around his Native identity, writing nonfiction, poetry and YA fiction about his Ahtna (an Alaska Native people) heritage and finding reasonable success. Smelcer’s Native identity has been a through-line in much of this controversy. But Smelcer’s Ahtna identity has been central to his career success, which makes any murkiness surrounding it potentially troublesome ― especially when it’s reflected in his work. But appropriation of Native identity by writers is a perennial problem. Critics point to expectations in the publishing community and American society generally that Native writers present themselves, and their stories, in a specific and expected way ― a formula that Native writers are less likely to deliver than a non-Native writer who knows the culture mostly from stereotypes and pop culture.

Source: Huffington Post August 28, 2017 18:52 UTC