{"id":617,"date":"2020-08-10T11:30:39","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T10:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/?p=617"},"modified":"2020-08-10T11:30:39","modified_gmt":"2020-08-10T10:30:39","slug":"rebuilding-roots-from-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebuilding Roots from Abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"kent-social-links\"><li><a href='http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/&amp;t=Rebuilding Roots from Abroad' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-facebook' title='Share via Facebook'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=Rebuilding Roots from Abroad%20https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-twitter' title='Share via Twitter'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/share?url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-google-plus' title='Share via Google Plus'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/&amp;title=Rebuilding Roots from Abroad' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-linkedin' title='Share via Linked In'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='mailto:content=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/&amp;title=Rebuilding Roots from Abroad' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-email' title='Share via Email'><\/i><\/a><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"lead\">Anthony Perry (Chickasaw)<br \/>\nAuthor, &#8216;Chula the Fox&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The job of my dreams took me from the U.S. to England in the year 2000, along with the chance to travel the world.\u00a0 I loved being in Europe and imagined myself living here for the rest of my days.\u00a0 The sense of continuity&#8211;the connection of past, present and future&#8211;that flows throughout England and other European countries contrasted markedly from the world of drive-thrus, strip malls and chain stores in the Oklahoma towns where I spent so much of my life.\u00a0 Where I grew up, children read about castles in fairy tales.\u00a0 Now I found myself able to visit one whenever I wanted.<\/p>\n<p>Over the years that followed, the novelty became part of life and I transitioned from tourist to immigrant.\u00a0 I realised how much I had taken my own American&#8211;and, in particular, my Native American (Chickasaw)&#8211;culture for granted.\u00a0 It&#8217;s easy to do when one shares a common cultural and life experience with most everyone around them, but the difference is stark when one doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 I grew up with lots of questions about my Chickasaw family history and thought I would one day ask my father.\u00a0 His sudden death in April 2009 meant that \u201cone day\u201d would never come.<\/p>\n<p>I found myself severed not only from my father but also from the Chickasaw story he lived. I realised then how little I knew about my Chickasaw ancestors and what it meant to be a Chickasaw.\u00a0 I knew that my ancestors were forcibly removed from their Homeland in present-day Mississippi in the southeastern US to a new land in present-day Oklahoma&#8211;but I didn\u2019t know much more than that.\u00a0 When I was very young, I enjoyed spending long weekends with my grandmother who lived and breathed with pride in her Chickasaw culture.\u00a0 I explored the family land allocated to my ancestors and visited the cemetery where many of my ancestors rested. I learned the basics of beadwork and heard stories such as The Rattlesnake, told by the Chickasaw storyteller Te Ata who once entertained King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother) when they visited the US in 1947.\u00a0 However, my links with my Chickasaw family faded as I grew up and I didn\u2019t get the chance to really appreciate how special my heritage was until I moved overseas.<\/p>\n<p>After my father\u2019s death, I tried to fill the gap by speaking with my uncles&#8211;my father\u2019s brothers&#8211;and my cousins, as well as reading more about Native American history and Chickasaw history in particular.\u00a0 Most all of it was new to me.\u00a0 So little of this was taught in my history classes at school.\u00a0 I was amazed to find I knew more about the Pioneers and the Oklahoma Land Run than I did about Native trade centres such as Cahokia and Moundville.\u00a0 Cahokia, for example, was bigger than London and other European cities in the Middle Ages and facilitated trade across what is today known as North America.\u00a0 I also learned about the devastation from disease and exploitation by European settlers and the valiant fights against them by my ancestors and others.<\/p>\n<p>As I learned more, I felt that I knew about my Chickasaw ancestors, but not about who they were.\u00a0 Textbooks and archaeological studies can describe wars, artefacts and religious beliefs, but they don\u2019t convey the humanity of the people studied.\u00a0 They don\u2019t describe how Native peoples like my ancestors viewed the world, their concerns or their hopes for themselves and their families.\u00a0 The power of connection was missing.<\/p>\n<p>Around the same time, I was watching Little House on the Prairie DVDs with my wife, who comes from a rural part of Eastern Europe. Bearing in mind its many flaws, including misrepresentation of Native Americans, the Little House series was an introduction to American culture that could connect with her own.\u00a0 I thought about how easily one could bond with the Ingalls family or other Pioneers through this programme.\u00a0 It humanised them in a way that I struggled to find for my Native ancestors.\u00a0 One cannot appreciate without understanding, and one cannot understand without connecting.\u00a0 Stories connect people to each other and deepen appreciation for different points of view.\u00a0 This inspired me to write.<\/p>\n<p>My need to write grew after the birth of my son in 2013, and strengthened further following the birth of my daughter in 2015.\u00a0 As a parent, I needed not only to understand my Chickasaw culture myself, but also to instil a connection for my children.\u00a0 I could have easily exposed my children to their Native culture living on our tribal land, but far harder when an ocean away when we are among the only Chickasaws in the country.\u00a0 For them, Britain is their home.\u00a0 Their lives are here.<\/p>\n<p>Through this, Chula the Fox was born.\u00a0 Thinking about my own growth following the death of my father, it made sense for Chula, the main character, to come to terms with a similar loss.\u00a0 It is often through death that we learn about life.\u00a0 Chula loses his father in an enemy attack and struggles to find peace.\u00a0 He vows revenge, in line with expectations of his time, to ease his pain whilst trying to support his mother, sister and wider family.\u00a0 As he pursues justice, he finds that revenge has a price of its own and that there are other paths to peace.\u00a0 This story paints a vivid picture of Chickasaw social, political and religious life and&#8211;above all&#8211;a glimpse into how my Chickasaw ancestors lived their lives as people.\u00a0 It became a story I could share with my children and, I hope, many others.<\/p>\n<p>I set the story in the early 1700s because this is the earliest period with a wealth of information about Chickasaw life.\u00a0 Primary sources from traders such as James Adair and Thomas Nairne described what they saw when they visited Chickasaw settlements.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t always right, and they had agendas of their own that I had to take into account; for example, Adair used his experience to argue that the Chickasaws and neighbouring nations were lost descendants of the Hebrews, based on similarities he found in language and cultural practises.\u00a0 I also chose this time because it described life before there was a United States, a period that most Americans are unfamiliar with.<\/p>\n<p>Chula the Fox addresses themes that aren\u2019t easily palatable to 21st-century European (or even Native) sensibilities.\u00a0 For example, the concept of revenge could raise concern of reinforcing stereotypes of Native peoples as heartless \u201csavages\u201d and recalling images of scalping and other cruelties.\u00a0 However, history is messy and should be appreciated as such.\u00a0 Revenge was a vital part of justice in Chickasaw culture (as it was for many other Native peoples) in Chula\u2019s time, but it was also a vital part of life among the European settlers who entered their lands&#8211;and or Americans today.\u00a0 The savagery of European settlers included public hangings, shootings and other forms of revenge-based &#8220;justice&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, warfare among the Chickasaws and other southeastern nations in Chula\u2019s time was based on the principle of proportionality.\u00a0 This is evident in Chula\u2019s experience, for example.\u00a0 Several Chickasaws were killed in an enemy attack, and so leaders planned a mission in response that would take the lives of a similar number of people.\u00a0 Southeastern nations shared an understanding of justice, that an action would yield a proportionate reaction that would settle a given crime.\u00a0 The Chickasaw people were proud of their strength, and, to this day, my nation identifies itself as unconquered and unconquerable\u201d.\u00a0 Their strength deterred enemy attacks; they practised the ideal of peace through strength.<\/p>\n<p>I wrote Chula the Fox with the hope of sharing my ancestors\u2019 lives to my children and others.\u00a0 I wanted to help them appreciate their Chickasaw culture&#8211;and connect to it&#8211;so that they too feel a part of the Chickasaw family, even though they live well beyond the borders of the Chickasaw Nation.\u00a0 The bond goes beyond my book.\u00a0 We talk about a group of Chickasaws who visited England between 1743 and 1746, as I continued to dig into archival materials and write about their journey.\u00a0 When their story is shared with my Chickasaw family at home, the connection will be stronger still.\u00a0 We talk about work I\u2019m doing to help the Chickasaw Nation\u2019s public health department develop disease registries that can help them address challenging conditions such as Hepatitis C.\u00a0 We talk about a visit home&#8211;one day&#8211;when they can see the Nation for themselves, and learn more about the American&#8211;and Chickasaw&#8211;side of their family.<\/p>\n<p>My hope is that, when my children do visit, that they will feel that they are coming to a home away from their home in England.\u00a0 My hope is that their bond will grow, and they too will find a way to continue the Chickasaw story in their own lives.\u00a0 If so, then I will have done my job.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-618 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/files\/2020\/08\/tony-perry-small-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"192\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/files\/2020\/08\/tony-perry-small-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/files\/2020\/08\/tony-perry-small.jpg 246w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 192px) 100vw, 192px\" \/> Anthony Perry is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation living in England with his wife and two children.\u00a0 His book, Chula the Fox, is published by the White Dog Press, an imprint of the Chickasaw Press.\u00a0 More information, including reviews and a trailer, can be found on Anthony Perry&#8217;s website, anthonyperryauthor.com.\u00a0 Chula the Fox is available in the UK through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Chula-Fox-Anthony-Perry-ebook\/dp\/B07QF6F5TZ\/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=chula+the+fox&amp;qid=1597055168&amp;sr=8-1\">Amazon<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/blackwells.co.uk\/bookshop\/product\/Chula-the-Fox-by-Anthony-Perry-author\/9781935684619\">Blackwells<\/a> (where it is currently on offer at a reduced price).\u00a0 In the US, it is available through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Chula-Fox-Anthony-Perry-ebook\/dp\/B07QF6F5TZ\/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=chula+the+fox&amp;qid=1597055215&amp;sr=8-1\">Amazon<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/chula-the-fox-anthony-perry\/1131089309;jsessionid=FB8D72EBD80161B04DE4F058A17894DE.prodny_store02-atgap18?ean=9781935684626\">Barnes and Noble<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/chickasawpress.com\/Books\/Chula-The-Fox.aspx\">Chickasaw Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"kent-social-links\"><li><a href='http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/&amp;t=Rebuilding Roots from Abroad' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-facebook' title='Share via Facebook'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=Rebuilding Roots from Abroad%20https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-twitter' title='Share via Twitter'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/share?url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-google-plus' title='Share via Google Plus'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/&amp;title=Rebuilding Roots from Abroad' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-linkedin' title='Share via Linked In'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='mailto:content=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/&amp;title=Rebuilding Roots from Abroad' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-email' title='Share via Email'><\/i><\/a><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anthony Perry (Chickasaw) Author, &#8216;Chula the Fox&#8217; The job of my dreams took me from the U.S. to England in the year 2000, along with &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/2020\/08\/10\/rebuilding-roots-from-abroad\/\">Read&nbsp;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53579,"featured_media":619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":622,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions\/622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/bts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}