Question: Do you think Joseph Boyden should write stories about the Indigenous people of Canada? Why or why not?

Joseph Boyden is an author and should write stories about fictional (or real) encounters with the Indigenous people of Canada— but he cannot claim their identities by writing from their perspectives. These people’s ways and traditions shape their personalities; therefore, no matter how much an outsider knows about a culture, they cannot establish the same level of understanding as an Indigenous person could. They would be ill-equipped to write as if they did.

In his defense, Joseph Boyden writes, “I don’t believe anyone should ever be made to feel shame in their identity, or to feel as if they are being prosecuted for speaking up proudly for themselves and for past generations who couldn’t or wouldn’t.” While this is true, Boyden’s ancestry does not go back far enough for him to be able to do it in an authentic way. The reality of his lack of experience in the culture is confirmed by this, so it stands to reason that he should not be writing novels from the perspective of a cultural identity that is not his to define.