Wrote this up a couple of months ago when I finished reading There There. I'm excited there's a readalong now so I can share my thoughts after finishing with everyone here on PB. :)

A recurring theme in There There by Tommy Orange is identity. How modern technology and society impacts the characters’ ideas of self is one of the main themes of Orange’s novel. In the prologue of There There, Orange introduces the concept of the “Urban Indian”, Native Americans who survived the government’s push to assimilate into white American culture by adopting and integrating modern practices and technology into their lives. These Urban Indians survived and preserved their cultures by moving to cities and seeking out other Native Americans to form communities with, in order to save their histories. However, to avoid a total absorption into white culture, many Native practices were partially assimilated into the dominant white American society. Due to this assimilation, today few Native traditions exist in their totality. This is the entire principle behind an Urban Indian: not wholly Native and not completely non-Native. The title of the novel derives from this concept, of not being quite here or there, but there there. But this can make it difficult for some modern Native Americans to connect with and learn about their Native identities. In Orange’s novel, all ten of his characters struggle to decide how to process their Native ancestry partially due to what Orange dubs the Urban Indian effect. An Urban Indian has the advantages of a member of modern society, but also major societal disadvantages. Orange shows that Natives who have partially assimilated are more likely to be accepted by white society, but it is harder for them to find a place in Native communities. Essentially, they are viewed as not white enough by non-Natives and not Native enough by Native Americans. Therefore, they have to form their own identity, one strongly influenced by the cultural crossroads they inhabit, but their unique situation can also lead to a sense of isolation and loneliness. A specific example of this is shown through Orange's characters: Dene's love of the band Radiohead kind of encapsulated this idea for me. The group is predominantly white and modern, but he applies the themes to his Native identity. He is the epitome of the Urban Indian, one foot in the past, one in the present. He is an embodiment of the entire concept behind There There, but also due to his unique straddling of two cultures often segregated from each other, experiences isolation and loneliness, a common theme for modern Native Americans today. But the same not traditionally Native, modern, mannerisms and technology that leads to partial acceptance by white Americans and isolation for more traditional Native Americans can also help Native people connect with their ancestry. Orvil would have never been able to experience traditional powwow dances if he had not had access to YouTube. But learning about Cheyanne dances through the internet allowed him to form a connection with his Cheyanne heritage and incorporate his ancestry into his identity of self. Undoubtedly his connection to Native culture formed completely differently than if he had lived before the invention of the internet. If Orvil had been born fifty years previously, he would have had much fewer resources to learn about Cheyanne traditions and they would have been significantly less accessible. If he had been able to learn about his heritage, he would have had to have met a traditional member of the Cheyanne tribe. The internet gave Orvil access to ideas and traditions that he otherwise would not have been able to learn about in conjunction with his modern American life. In this way, the very existence of Urban Indians is reliant on modern technology. There There shows the intersection of traditional Native culture and identities with modern society and technology, an experience unique to Urban Indians. These people have the advantage of being able to preserve Native traditions by utilizing modern technology, but their place in society creates a disconnect that makes it harder for them to identify with their Native heritage. Although a work of fiction, There There educates its readers about the complexities of Native culture and identity and encourages discourse to improve this overlooked problem, in many different ways that maybe a non-fiction piece of work wouldn't be able to. And indeed, this idea of an intersectional identity that is considered lesser than a true or “pure” identity is something very common that most Americans experience. It varies by degree of course, for wealthy white queer kids, their intersectionality is more likely to become a part of their identity where they can still find a home and accepting community while still being successful, in a way that is much more difficult for say, a queer neurodivergent Black kid. But I think this is an experience quintessential to the American experience. We are a country that is a salad of religions, cultures, traditions, and identities (due to colonialism and immigration). And because of this, so many of our identities are a wonderful, chaotic, mishmash of intersectionality. The comfort Dene finds in his intersectional identity, of being a modern artist and storyteller, while still remaining true to his Native heritage and not compromising on his family and community’s traditions, is, I think, a balance many of us are striving for. A way to recognize all parts of ourselves without comprising other parts to recognize different ones.