Roberta Hill Whiteman: An Introduction

"A Language of Relationships"

By Cathy Young and Ellen Winter

Oneida poet Roberta Hill Whiteman visited the University of Arizona in early March, 1992. Besides being a successful Native American poet, (her publications include a collection of poetry called Star Quilt, and numerous poems have appeared in journals and anthologies), Whiteman is a graduate of the M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing at the University of Montana, an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at the University of Minnesota. During her visit she presented a paper at the Arizona Quarterly Review conference and gave a poetry reading as part of the Poetics and Politics reading series. She also visited a graduate seminar, Studies in Oral Tradition: Native American Poetics, gave an informal talk at the Intertribal Graduate Center, and joined members of the class for dinner at El Minuto. A busy schedule, to say the least, and one she handled with grace and good cheer, despite rather disappointing drizzly weather about which she commented, "I like the way this place smells when it rains."

I was first introduced to Roberta Hill Whiteman at the Arizona Quarterly Review conference. She read achapter from her dissertation-in-progress, entitled Her Inconspicuous Way: The Biography of Dr. Lillie Rose Minoka. This dissertation involves the life story of Whiteman's grandmother, who was one of the first Native American physicians. Whiteman's presentation was illuminating in a number of ways: it shed some light on her roots, and also revealed a few things about her present day concerns, not the least of which is an interest in pushing at the accepted boundaries of biographical writing. She plans to do this in her dissertation by placing an emphasis an oral traditions and storytelling, and relying somewhat less on documents and recorded "facts." In the chapter she read, her grandmother comes across as a courageous and rather modest woman, one who would probably be surprised to learn that someone is writing her biography. After she read the chapter, Whiteman answered questions from the audience, deftly defending her account of her grandmother's life as biography and not fiction. Unassuming as her grandmother seems to have been, she also asked for critical comments and suggestions from the audience.

Whiteman was equally engaging during her visit with the graduate seminar. She began by giving a short history of the Oneida tribe. Whiteman was the only visiting writer of the semester to start off her talk in this manner. Oneida history appears to play a very important role in her sense of who she is and how she came to be that way. She seemed to feel that in order to understand her, members of the class needed first to understand the history of her people. As part of this history, she told several stories that are part of the Oneida oral tradition. Later, as the class switched to question and answer mode, several concerns underlying much of Whiteman's work became clear: an interest (bordering on obsession, Whiteman would say) with language and form, a sense of connectedness with the living Earth, and a feeling of relatedness with other people--particularly other colonized people. She seemed optimistic about the future of her people and looks forward to what she sees as a developing Native American poetics, and also the formation of a global literature that will encompass the works of other colonized people.

The informal talk/brown bag lunch at the Intertribal Graduate Center was well attended, and while Whiteman was eating her sandwich she gave each member of the audience a chance to introduce him or herself, displaying an interest in her audience that was in evidence throughout the visit. In this relaxed atmosphere, more questions were raised about Whiteman's life and poetry. Of the Native American writers who visited for the Poetics and Politics series, Whiteman is perhaps one of the most urban, and questions addressing the abundance of natural imagery in her work were raised. Time slipped by quickly, and worried about Whiteman's voice, those of us "responsible" for her during the visit thought it might be a good idea to escort her back to the poetry cottage for a little rest before her reading. Separating her from her fans was not, however, an easy task, and several people joined us far a walk across campus in the rain.

During dinner at El Minuto, Whiteman noted with pleasure the level of interest in Native American writing and writers expressed during the class visit and brown bag lunch. She also talked about how she met her husband, Ernie Whiteman, an Arapaho artist who provided the illustrations for Star Quilt. The rest of the dinner was filled with relaxed conversation--we all got to know each other a little better than we had before.

The auditorium at the Center for Creative Photography was full despite the poor weather. Whiteman read a number of poems, some older ones published in Star Quilt and same newer ones that most of us hadn't seen before. A new one called "Our Different Story" went over particularly well with the audience. She read her work with conviction, her voice lending a drama that some of us might have missed when reading the poems ourselves, caught up as we were in the intricacies of Whiteman's language and imagery. Most of us went home well-satisfied, glad that we'd ventured out in the rain.