Because Deborah Miranda’s family moved from California before she finished fourth grade, Miranda was never able to complete her social studies project about each U.S. state’s history — until now.

She described her latest novel, “Bad Indians,” as a retroactive conclusion to her fourth-grade project.

Miranda came to Syracuse University on Monday to conduct a reading and talk to students in Kittredge Auditorium. The afternoon, sponsored dually by the department of women and gender studies and department of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies, offered a poignant look into “Bad Indians.”

Miranda, a Native American writer and poet, described “Bad Indians” as a tribal memoir with “one person telling the story of a collective group of people.”

The talk and reading began with Miranda discussing her personal and family background, her work and the work of the people around her through a PowerPoint presentation. It included excerpts of her novel and quotes by similar authors and Indians.

“I am your worst nightmare: an Indian with a pen.” This powerful quote was about the tenacity of Indian history and the silence that has occurred in the past due to illiteracy and tendency to tell stories through spoken communication.

Miranda said she wrote “Bad Indians” to pen the stories of her ancestors, giving them a voice that would reach the masses in a way they were unable to before.

Audience member Gabriel Amaya is of Apache descent, and said he agrees with Miranda’s mission to give ancestors a voice before their stories are lost.

“I think that Indian people have a lot of good history to say that has gone unnoticed,” said Amaya, a freshman civil engineering major.

The presentation delved into serious discussion, some involving rape, abuse and misfortune that has struck the indigenous people and their inability to speak out about the abuse. Women in particular were highlighted in Miranda’s talk, accompanied by stories from both her and her ancestors’ pasts.

Miranda said she ran into several issues when writing: biased secondhand information, credibility of the spoken word and objective materials. Finally, it was published. Miranda said she was surprised how invested she became in authoring the decadelong novel.

“I thought I was in charge of writing this book,” she said. “But what I found over the course of 10 years is that the book was in charge of writing me.”

The talk concluded with a brief Q-and-A session during which audience members asked Miranda questions regarding her use of the word “Indian,” the research she conducted for the project, any differences the novel might have had from her previous works and what it is like to write about personal topics.

Many audience members noted that Miranda referred to the subjects of her book as “Indians” throughout her entire presentation, instead of Native Americans.

Julie Wilson, a freshman English and textual studies major, stated her fascination.

“People put such a big emphasis on being politically correct and respecting the cultures of Indians and Native Americans,” Wilson said, “yet here is this confident Native American woman calling herself an Indian, no doubt in her mind that is the correct term for herself.”

Throughout the evening, the stories of Miranda’s family were greeted with numerous nods of the head, soft murmurs and gasps from the audience.

Wilson found the presentation compelling.

Concluding the evening, Miranda offered advice for writing careers, stating that gossip is the best source of information. People may embellish or exaggerate the truth in some cases, she said, but more often than not, gossip is one of the sincerest ways to find pieces of personal information one may not have been privy to otherwise.

Audience members walked away from the speech with insight into a culture that many had not experienced in the past. Copies of “Bad Indians” are now available for purchase.

Published on April 9, 2013 at 1:39 am

Contact Madysan: mgfoltz@syr.edu | @madysangabriele