EDGE OF MORNING
Native Voices Speak for the Bears Ears
edited by Jacqueline Keeler
June 2017 | Nonfiction | 9781937226718 |165 pp | $19.95
JACQUELINE KEELER is a Diné/Ihanktonwan Dakota writer living in Portland, Oregon. She is editor of the anthology Edge of Morning: Native Voices Speak for the Bears Ears and has contributed to many publications including The Nation, Yes! magazine, and Salon.
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ABOUT THE EDITOR
In support of tribal efforts to protect the Bears Ears, Native writers bear testimony to the fragile and essential nature of this sacred landscape in America’s remote red rock country. Through poem and essay, these often-ignored voices explore the ways many native people derive tradition, sustenance, and cultural history from the Bears Ears.
Cover art by Shonto Begay
PRAISE FOR EDGE OF MORNING
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"Encompassing wisdom and grace, Edge of Morning is a finessed articulation of respect and the simplicity of being human."
—FOREWORD REVIEWS
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“The latest book among Torrey House releases that invigorate the public policy details of environmental issues and natural conservation with new voices that not only inspire emotionally but also lay out the significant cultural case that compels a new point of view about the stewardship of public lands."
—THE UTAH REVIEW
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“This beautiful collection presents Native American expressions in poems, essays, reflections and interviews. An important read.”
—DESERET NEWS
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“An important new collection of Native American writers essaying the cultural significance of Utah’s Bears Ears landscape…Edge of Morning includes works from members of different tribes, as well as different levels of expertise…scholars and grass-roots activists, and from poets as well as prose writers."
—THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
“This anthology seeks to tell stories by native writers about the Bears Ears and its importance. Storytelling is a way of making sure the importance of the land is known, and can help spread awareness . . . a worthy project.”
—SEATTLE REVIEW OF BOOKS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Part I: Origin Stories
Interviews with Bears Ears Inter–Tribal Coalition Organizers
Regina Lopez Whiteskunk (Ute), Ute Mountain Ute Council
Willie Grayeyes (Diné), Chairman of Utah Diné Bikéyah
Jonah Yellowman (Diné), Utah Diné Bikéyah
Jim Enote (Zuni), director of the Colorado Plateau Foundation and the director of the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center
Alastair Bitsoi (Diné), journalist, graduate student at New York University
Part II: For this Land, For the Diné Bikéyah
Navajo Activists and Academia Speak for Bears Ears
Elizabeth Woody (Diné/Warm Springs), Oregon Poet Laureate
Lloyd Lee (Diné), Associate Professor of Native American Studies, University of New Mexico
Louise Benally (Diné), activist
Jacqueline Keeler (Diné/Dakota), writer, producer and activist
Klee Benally (Diné), musician, activist and filmmaker
Andrew Curley (Diné), Deputy Director of Diné Policy Institute
Luci Tapahonso (Diné), professor of English Literature and Language at the University of New Mexico, 2013 poet laureate of Navajo Nation
Part III: In Our Usual and Accustomed Places
Indigenous leaders on Bears Ears and the Fight for Cultural Preservation and Access to Public Lands in the United States
Morning Star Gali (Pitt River), Tribal Historic Preservation Officer at Pit River Tribe
Heid E. Erdrich (Ojibwe), poet and author
Faith Spotted Eagle (Ihanktonwan Dakota), a founding grandmother of the Brave Heart Society and Chair of the Ihanktonwan Treaty Council
Cutcha Risling Baldy (Hupa), professor in the Department of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University
Wayland Gray (Muscogee), activist
Martie Simmons (Hochunk), writer