Jeannette Armstrong - Armstrong As Author

Armstrong As Author

Armstrong’s literary production increased in breadth and magnitude shortly after her 1978 graduation. She published two children’s books in the early 1980s, Enwhisteetkwa (or Walk in Water) in 1982 and Neekna and Chemai the following year, and performed two years of research in preparation for writing Slash, her first and most famous novel (Petrone 179 and Lutz 22).

Like the En’owkin Learning Centre, Theytus Books, and the En’owkin School of International Writing, Armstrong’s novel Slash, which was published in 1985 by Theytus, originates from the Okanagan Indian Curriculum Project. Commissioned for use as part of a grade eleven study in contemporary history, Armstrong wanted Slash to connect with and relate to contemporary students (Jones 60). Furthermore, Armstrong assumed the project in order to anticipate the work of more famous non-Aboriginal authors who were “dripping at the mouth” to document Native history (Williamson qtd in Jones 60).

Slash relates a history of the North American Indian protest movement through the critical perspective of central character Tommy Kelasket, who is eventually renamed Slash. Despite the intolerance that Tommy encounters in an assimilationist school system and racist North American society, his family encourages him to be proud of his Okanagan heritage and he eventually becomes an activist for Aboriginal rights. Armstrong clearly states that Slash is not a chronicle of AIM (American Indian Movement) from the AIM point of view; rather, the text provides a personalized account of the origins and growth of Native activism since the 1960s (Lutz 22 and Jones 51).

Since the appearance of Slash on the Canadian literary scene, Jeannette Armstrong has continued to write and publish widely. Armstrong’s poetry appears in anthologies and her collection Breath Tracks (1991). Her short stories are collected in works such as All My Relations: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Native Fiction edited by Thomas King. Armstrong’s second novel, Whispering in Shadows, which traces the life experiences of a young Okanagan activist woman, was published in 2000.

In addition to her creative works, Armstrong has published and continues to compose a wealth of critical works such as The Native Creative Process, a collaborative discourse between Armstrong and Douglas Cardinal on Aboriginal artistry, and “Land Speaking,” which addresses how land and Okanagan language influence her writing.