Robert C: Guidelines for giving an 'authentic' Indian speech

Opinion

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

"From time to time, a news article will appear and report public speaking to be a fear which ranks right up there with death. The article may quote a communications professor who will go on to relate some of the fear-based responses to public speaking—anxiety, sweaty palms, shaky voice, fidgeting, racing heartbeat, etc. Scary stuff, this public speaking.

If this is the level of fear held by the average person, imagine the fear of a Native who has to speak in public for the first time. What can be especially frightening is the belief they have to match the oratory feats of their Native ancestors. However, this fear is largely based on a misconception because many modern Native speakers have already established an easy-to-follow speech template which can be perfected with a little practice. This template works well with a non-Native audience and once mastered, it may pay off by delivering well paid speaking gigs.

Before concentrating on speech content, an aspiring Native speaker must first focus on a couple of speech elements—establishing credibility through appearance and pronunciation. An almost surefire way to establish credibility, and appear in the media, is to wear a headdress or warbonnet. In the past, some traditions required each feather to be earned until enough had been acquired to fashion a headdress. Nowadays, this type of tradition seems to be irrelevant and the main requirement for wearing a headdress is to take advantage of a good photo op. If a headdress is unavailable, then traditional clothing (or something resembling it) can be worn. It’s not important if one never wears traditional clothing for any other occasion so long as they wear it for a speech."

Get the Story:
Robert C via Gyasi Ross: How To Give an Authentic Indian Speech (The Thing About Skins 6/16)