Ulteriori informazioni
Now in paperback: a gripping, witty travel memoir that offers "a fascinating look at voluntourism from an Indigenous perspective" (Book Riot)"Ursula Pike's memoir is unlike any other I've read, with her perceptive, always-seeking, and lovely narrative voice." —
Susan Straight, author of
Mecca"This book is alive with a spirit that welcomed mine to meet it." —
Elissa Washuta, author of
White MagicWhen she was twenty-five, Ursula Pike boarded a plane to Bolivia and began her term of service in the Peace Corps. A member of the Karuk Tribe, Pike sought to make meaningful connections with Indigenous people halfway around the world. But she arrived in La Paz with trepidation as well as excitement, "knowing I followed in the footsteps of Western colonizers and missionaries who had also claimed they were there to help." In the following two years, as a series of dramatic episodes brought that tension to a boiling point, she began to ask: What does it mean to have experienced the effects of colonialism firsthand, and yet to risk becoming a colonizing force in turn?
An Indian Among los Indígenas, Pike's memoir of this experience, upends a canon of travel memoirs that has historically been dominated by white writers. It is a sharp, honest, and unnerving examination of the shadows that colonial history casts over even the most well-intentioned attempts at cross-cultural aid. With masterful deadpan wit, it signals a shift in travel writing that is long overdue.
Sommario
Preface
1 A la Llegada – Upon Arrival
2 Cochabamba
3 La Clase de Baile – The Dance Lesson
4 Primer Viaje a Kantuta – First Trip to Kantuta
5 En la Noche – In the Evening
6 El Centro Infantil – The Children’s Center
7 La Ch’alla – The Christening
8 Ropa Sucia – Dirty Laundry
9 La Repostería – The Baker
10 Misiñawi – Cat Eyes 81
11 La Noche Más Fría del Año – The Coldest Night of the Year
12 Amigos – Friends
13 La Aislamiento – Isolation
14 La Celebración – The Celebration
15 Aventura – Adventure
16 La Flota – The Bus
17 Cantando – Singing
18 Bailando – Dancing
19 Casa – Home
20 Mi Salida – Departure
Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Info autore
Ursula Pike is the author of
An Indian Among los Indígenas and is a graduate of the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her work won the 2019 Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Contest in the memoir category, and her writing has appeared in
Yellow Medicine Review, World Literature Today, and
Ligeia Magazine. She has an MA in economics, with a focus on community economic development, and was a Peace Corps fellow at Western Illinois University. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia from 1994 to 1996. An enrolled member of the Karuk Tribe, she was born in California and grew up in Daly City, California, and Portland, Oregon. She currently lives in Austin, Texas.
