Indian Country: Telling a Story in a Digital Age

by Victoria L. LaPoe, Benjamin Rex LaPoe II

Overview

Storytelling has always been an important part of Native culture. Stories play a part in everyday Native life—they are often oral and rich in detail and language and serve as a form of recording history. Digital media now allow for the extension of this storytelling. This necessary text evaluates how digital media are changing the rich cultural act of storytelling within Native communities, with a specific focus on Native newsroom norms and routines. The authors argue that the non-Native press often leave consumers with a stereotypical view of American Indians, and aim to give a more authentic representation to Native journalism. With interviews from more than forty Native journalists around the country, this book is essential to understanding how digital media possibly advances the distribution of storytelling within the American Indian community.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611862263
Publisher:	Michigan State University Press
Publication date:	01/01/2017
Series:	American Indian Studies
Edition description:	1
Pages:	146
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Victoria L. LaPoe is Assistant Professor and broadcast and film sequence coordinator at Western Kentucky University. She is coauthor of the book Oil and Water: Media Lessons from Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster.
 
Benjamin Rex LaPoe II is Assistant Professor of interactive storytelling in the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University. LaPoe is the newsletter editor for the Minorities and Communication division of AEJMC and advisor for the Multicultural Journalists student group at WKU.
 
 

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Native Storytelling 13

Chapter 2 The Data 29

Chapter 3 Helping Native Voices Breathe 41

Chapter 4 Looking Forward 75

Chapter 5 Digital Visibility 87

Appendix: Interview Guide 97

Notes 99

References 119

Index 127

Editorial Reviews

The book to read to understand that storytelling in Indian Country is not just a cultural act, but a journalistic one. The LaPoes’ authentic research into the norms and routines of more than forty Native journalists documents how Native journalism has evolved in digital spaces to provide visibility to long invisible communities.”
—Cristina L. Azocar, chair of the Department of Journalism at San Francisco State University, former president of the Native American Journalists Association
 

From the Publisher