{"id":21692,"date":"2024-02-16T16:29:38","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T20:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=21692"},"modified":"2024-02-19T12:41:48","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T16:41:48","slug":"indigenous-cultures-welcome-professor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/indigenous-cultures-welcome-professor\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous Cultures Welcome English Professor for In-Person Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n

Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of English<\/a> Ryan Fong recently appeared on a New Zealand reality TV show titled The Casketeers<\/em>, which focuses on M\u0101<\/span>ori funeral directors Francis and Kaiora Tipene, who combine good humor with care and respect as they help M\u0101<\/span>ori and Pasifika families cope with loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That appearance might surprise some. But to know Fong\u2019s scholarship is to know why it makes perfect sense. Over the past several years, he has been awarded a series of grants that have allowed him to thoughtfully and respectfully perform in-person research regarding Indigenous cultures, including the M\u0101<\/span>ori, across the British empire and French Polynesia, for a book he expects to release in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research developed out of a growing understanding of the limits of his primary educational training in 19th<\/sup> century British literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe sparks for this project came during my time at K and with the relationships I\u2019ve had with people like Reid Gomez, the founding director of our Critical Ethnic Studies program,\u201d Fong said while also mentioning current colleagues such as Professor of English Amelia Katanski \u201992. \u201cIn my conversations with them, I realized that in order to understand the British empire, I needed to understand more than the colonizer\u2019s perspective. Colonialism wasn\u2019t completely victorious in erasing Indigenous people and their culture, as evidenced by the fact that they still survive today, so in the last seven years, I\u2019ve essentially done another Ph.D. worth of research about the sites and communities I am studying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Zealand was one stop last year and the TV show was a small part of it. Fong binged the first two seasons of The Casketeers<\/em> on Netflix before traveling to partially fulfill an Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership<\/a> fellowship. He had also emailed the show\u2019s producers in advance, asking for permission to respectfully visit the outside grounds, and to his surprise, he and his husband were invited inside after stopping by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn addition to reading books and visiting archives, part of my research is engaging with contemporary culture like The Casketeers<\/em>,\u201d Fong said. \u201cThe show graciously shares so much about M\u0101<\/span>ori culture, and I learned a ton about their tikanga, or traditions, and their language while watching it. They were very impressed that I knew and used so many M\u0101<\/span>ori words in our conversation, and it was a bridge for me to share some of my family\u2019s Chinese traditions with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also in New Zealand, Fong visited many of the sites significant to Apirina Ngata, a prominent M\u0101<\/span>ori statesman and cultural advocate who served in the country\u2019s parliament. In 1892, Ngata became the first known M\u0101<\/span>ori person to publish a poem in English while he was an undergrad at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, where he was among the first of its M\u0101<\/span>ori graduates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ngata was a member of Ng\u0101<\/span>ti Porou, an iwi\u2014or Indigenous M\u0101ori tribe\u2014from the Eastern Cape region, or Tair\u0101<\/span>whiti, of New Zealand, or Aotearoa. While in the country, Fong visited Maunga Hikurangi, which is the sacred mountain of Ng\u0101<\/span>ti Porou. As part of an iwi-led tour that takes visitors to the highest point of the mountain at sunrise, Fong was able see one of the first places where the sun touches land on each new day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the new millennium, the Ng\u0101<\/span>ti Porou community commissioned carvings for a site on the mountain about M\u0101<\/span>ui, a prominent demigod who appears across the Pacific. One of the iwi\u2019s creation stories involves M\u0101<\/span>ui fishing up the islands of Aotearoa with Maunga Hikurangi being the first bit of land that appeared above the ocean\u2019s surface. Indeed, the North Island actually resembles the shape of a sting ray from an aerial view. The island begins with the mouth at the bottom, proceeding to wings and the tip of a tail going north. Many M\u0101<\/span>ori people will commonly identify their iwi homelands based on where it is on the fish, such as on the tail, the mouth or the eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing able to physically be on Maunga Hikurangi was more important to me than going to find documents in an archive or see objects in a museum,\u201d Fong said. \u201cI organized my trip to better understand where Ngata is from, which includes everything about the land and the waters that have been so important to him and his people. I was privileged to hear stories directly from Ngata\u2019s present-day kin and to directly witness their deep relationship with their Maunga. I wanted to connect with his community and place not just my mind but in my heart, in order to fully respect their stories and traditions in my own writing and research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Zealand, however, was just one of Fong\u2019s stops around the world for his book research, which started in 2016. His final stop was French Polynesia in January, which is considered by many M\u0101<\/span>ori to be their ancient homeland. Previously, he visited places such as Ontario to research the Haudenosaunee people, southwest Australia to examine the Noongar people, and South Africa to learn about the Khoe-San culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs any academic will tell you, what you quickly realize in any project is how much you don\u2019t know,\u201d Fong said. \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot I don\u2019t know, but being able to write responsibly about each of these cultures has been a long process of training myself in the scholarship, doing the reading, and building conversations with community members through the travel I\u2019ve done. All of those things were very important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, Fong was one of four scholars from around the U.S. who founded Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom, a digital humanities project that began reimagining how to teach Victorian studies with a positive, race-conscious lens. And ultimately, he hopes his book project and research will hold similar potential for his classrooms and students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was intensely moved by how graciously I was received when I traveled,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew I was going only for a short time as a tourist and that comes with lot of baggage and issues. I went in with humble expectations, recognizing that whatever people were willing to share with me would be a gift. But people opened their hearts after seeing the intellectual and, more importantly, heart work that I had done before arriving. My efforts said, \u2018I respect your history and culture.\u2019 That work is what informs my teaching and what I wanted to bring back home, not only for my research, but for my students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Q-and-A with Ryan Fong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Interview conducted with Social Media Ambassador Blagoja Naskovski ’24.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: What is your favorite part of being a professor at K?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answer: There are actually very few places in the world that we set aside for people to come together to explore questions in a sustained and deliberate way. Every day I go into a classroom, I have the privilege of doing just that with students. We get to be with one another, talk about readings and learn from one another. It\u2019s an all-too-rare and precious experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You teach courses that address 19th<\/sup> century British literature, literature by East Asian emigrants around the world, literary theory, and women, gender and sexuality. Do you have a specific course that you really enjoy teaching and why?<\/strong>

A: This past fall, I had the incredible experience of teaching a class on Indigenous water stories from the Great Lakes and the Pacific. I was able to draw a lot on my experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand and connect them with literature by Anishinaabe writers here in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Since this class was paired with Bela Agosa\u2019s sophomore seminar Becoming Kin, which was all about Indigenous diplomacy and poetry, we were able to share students and link conversations between our classes in powerful ways, which culminated in a visit to the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi tribal grounds with artist and community leader Jason Wesaw. It was a transformative experience for us all.

Q: How would you describe your students?<\/strong>

A: I really appreciate how passionate and curious K students can be, and how willing they are to connect their classroom experiences with their bigger questions about the world.

Q: Do you see interest among K students in learning more about Indigenous communities through literature?<\/strong>

A: Little by little, yes. And thankfully, it\u2019s not just in my classes.  Amelia Katanski has been teaching about these topics at K for many years, and Cyndy Weyandt-Garcia been offering some amazing new classes more recently as well. Learning more about Indigenous history, literature and activism connects with so many issues that are pressing and urgent today\u2014including climate change, political sovereignty and addressing the violence of colonialism around the world.

Q: What would you suggest to students who would like to major in English?<\/strong>

Do it! My fellow professors in English and I all want to give you the tools to ask big questions about the world and to explore ways of making it better and more just. We do that by reading from an array of cultural and historical perspectives and by teaching you how to create and express yourself with your own words. We have alumni who have used this training to find meaningful work in many different arenas, from teaching to journalism to non-profit jobs to publishing to starting their own businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Five
Associate Professor of English Ryan Fong (second from right) and his husband, Eric (second from left), visit the cast and set of the reality TV show, “The Casketeers.”<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Ryan
Fong stands next to a bust of Apirina Ngata, a statesman and cultural advocate.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Tall
The Indigenous Ng\u0101<\/span>ti Porou community commissioned carvings for a site at the sacred mountain of Maunga Hikurangi to mark the millennium.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Sunrise
This picture, taken at one of the highest points at the Maunga Hikurangi on the Eastern Cape of New Zealand, shows one of the first points where the sun rises on a new day.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"A
This site shows where the Te Tiriti o Waitangi, or Treaty of Waitangi, was signed between the Indigenous iwi of the North and the British crown. Each February 6, waka\u2014or canoes\u2014like this one are sailed on the bay to mark the treaty’s anniversary.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
T\u0101<\/span>ne Mahuta, or God of the Forest, is the tallest Kauri tree in the Waipoua Forest. It measures 148 feet tall and 50 feet around. It\u2019s between 1,500 and 2,500 years old. Toward the top left, smaller fallen trees have grown into it.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associate Professor of English Ryan Fong has been awarded grants that have allowed him to perform in-person research regarding Indigenous cultures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":21702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[233,3],"tags":[54,39],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-21692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff","category-news","tag-english","tag-faculty"],"yoast_head":"\r\nIndigenous Cultures Welcome Professor for Research - News and Events<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Associate Professor of English Ryan Fong has been awarded grants that have allowed him to perform in-person research regarding Indigenous cultures.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/indigenous-cultures-welcome-professor\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Indigenous Cultures Welcome Professor for Research - 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aria-label=\"archive of category Faculty & Staff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/category\/faculty-staff\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Faculty & Staff<\/a><a aria-label=\"archive of category News Stories\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">News Stories<\/a>","tags_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/english\/\" rel=\"tag\">English<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/faculty\/\" rel=\"tag\">faculty<\/a>","social_share_info":"<a data-share=\"facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/indigenous-cultures-welcome-professor\/\" class=\"pl-facebook-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/indigenous-cultures-welcome-professor\/\" class=\"pl-twiiter-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"linkedin\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/indigenous-cultures-welcome-professor\/\" class=\"pl-linkedin-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-linkedin-in\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a>","wordExcerpt_info":"<p>Associate Professor of English Ryan Fong has been awarded grants that have allowed him to perform in-person research regarding Indigenous cultures.<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21692"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21744,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21692\/revisions\/21744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21692"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=21692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}