There There

There There

• Genre: Fiction; literary
• Originally Published: 2018
• Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
• Structure/Length: Prologue, 4 parts; approx. 304 pages; approx. 8 hours on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: Jacquie Red Feather, Dene Oxendene, and 14-year-old Orvil are strangers who all grapple with a painful history and the complexity of being an urban Indigenous American. Their lives converge and collide in a shooting at the Big Oakland Powwow.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: sexual assault, abuse, alcohol and drug addiction, death by suicide.          

Tommy Orange, Author

• Bio: Born in 1982; American novelist from Oakland, California; played roller hockey on a national level; worked at a bookstore after graduating from community college with a BS in sound arts; earned a master’s degree in fine arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts; publishes articles and short stories in Esquire and McSweeney’s, among other publications; lives with his wife and son in Angels Camp, California
• Awards: Pulitzer Prize finalist (2019); American Book Award (2019); National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize (2019); PEN/Hemingway Award (2019); Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction finalist (2019)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Indigenous Identity
• Healing From Trauma
• Violence Caused by Colonialism

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Gain an understanding of the cultural, historical, and geographical contexts regarding Indigenous Identity, the Bay Area Indigenous community, and American colonialism that impact the events within There There.