Students and community members can join University of Idaho ethnography professor Rodney Frey Sept. 21 as he reveals the process behind the creation of his novel Carry Forth the Stories: An Ethnographer’s Journey into Native Oral Traditions.
Frey will speak from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the UI Library. His book involves culture tradition, language, cultural property rights, trivial reviews and ‘giving back’ to Native American tribes. During the talk, he will answer attendee questions.
Frey’s new novel shows what Native American culture is like as well as what it feels like to step into an undiscovered world to find out that others face challenges just as deafening as our own and ways of life are very different depending on beliefs, culture, and money.
“My favorite part of writing this book was the honor of retelling the stories and teachings of my mentors and teachers,” Frey said. “Really attempting to do an honor to them was the best part.”
As an author of now five novels about Native American heritage and culture throughout the centuries, Frey said he has developed knowledge and a passion for Native American history and culture throughout the past 40 years.
Being an author doesn’t exclusively mean setting up plots and a story for your character, it means stepping into the shoes of real people and seeing what you would do if you were in their situation. It has been Frey’s journey to resurrect the stories and the progression that Native American tribes have had throughout the decades and ultimately share a bit of history so that the tales and lifestyles are not forgotten.
Frey said he hopes people, upon reading his novel, realize “the importance of storytelling and the act of storytelling.” He described the world as a rock medicine wheel with many spokes.
“It’s respecting differences,” Frey said. “‘The world is a great rock medicine wheel with its many spokes’ is implying to respect diversity and its many spokes that make up humanity.”
Cecil Milliken can be reached at [email protected]