“Vital Relations” is Dr. Jean Dennison’s second book, her follow-up to “Colonial Entanglement: Constituting a Twenty-First-Century Osage Nation” and her sophomore release tells the story of the tribe’s efforts to “move the needle forward”—not only in language and cultural revitalization but in multi-faceted constituent services aimed at helping the people and Nation flourish.
In an accessible first-person telling, Dennison narrates the bureaucratic and political challenges the Nation had to overcome in seeking operational excellence in its new government. During opening remarks at the book’s launch with Osage News, Eddy Redeagle Jr. said, “I get very emotional about this subject matter, and it’s worth a tear or two, to reflect upon the hours and intentions to get to a point where you can recap and look at what is unfolding in front of us. … there was a time when there was nothing you could do. That has now resolved itself, that is the blessing.”
For the book launch event, the author joined Editor Shannon Shaw Duty of Osage News in conversation after reading from the opening of “Vital Relations.” ON Supreme Court Justice Meredith Drent was also invited to speak but could not attend due to illness.
The audience enjoyed a buffet dinner as the Osage author and anthropologist read a story of how she and her father, the late lawyer Gene Paul Dennison, attempted to connect one of his legal clients with addiction treatment offered by the Nation. In the end, the duo was barely able to navigate a labyrinth of underfunded and understaffed programs, and the woman who was so in need of help almost did not get it.
Dennison noted the story served to underline how much work the Osage Nation had in front of itself to create a navigable system of care, from prevention to counseling. Over the past seven years, the Nation’s services have greatly improved, she said – although it has not been an easy task. Among the challenges was pushing the United States to fulfill monetary obligations to the tribe, while the Nationasserted its sovereign right to run its own programs.
In her opening remarks, Dennison also noted that the U.S. Government does not have the right to tell the tribe whether they can be involved in technology and extractive industries. “This book thus demonstrates that the Osage Nation building process is not about purity, but about vital relations,” she said.
Shaw Duty began the conversation portion of the event, and described Dennison’s work as a “30,000-foot-view of all the progress the Osage Nation has made over the past years.” The two shared admiration of one another’s work, and Dennison asked Shaw Duty to reflect on stories of Osage women she’d heard growing up. “The stories we hear are all too often about men,” said Dennison.
Shaw recalled stories of Maria and Marjorie Tallchief, and also of women from her own family. “I drew a lot of strength from knowing how strong those women are,” she said, speaking of the priceless chance to observe Grayhorse women while growing up. She mentioned some of those women by name, including Juanita West, Josephine Tillman, Marlene Ware, Barbara Bowman, Elizabeth Meyers, Pat Tallchief, Mary Osage Greene, Clara Bell Brumley, Joan Barrone, Chris and Davy Watts, Alice Couch, and Margaret Mason.
When Shaw Duty asked Dennison what led her to a path as a scholar, the author again noted her father. “Those of you who knew my dad knew the gleam he gets in his eye when he gets an idea,” she said, and recalled her father telling her that she would document the Osage Nation Congress. “And he was right. The 31st tribal council.”
Of the council’s work on the Nation’s new structure Dennison said, “They have been willing to let me see the good, the bad, the ugly, having faith in me that I was going to tell the story that needed to be told. … Of the sheer, glorious persistence that had led to where we are as a Nation.”
The two writers discussed the impact that Osage News had on the government as well. “The first day on the job [in 2007], then-Principal Chief Jim Gray said ‘Welcome to the jungle,’ and he wasn’t lying,” said Shaw Duty. The editor explained that one critical step in reporting on the tribe was separating the newspaper from the chief’s office. “There’s a civic duty and a need that every democracy has [for a free and independent press],” she said. “We’re writing the historical record of the Osage Nation and once I realized that, it’s so very important. It’s a mission. A hundred years from now, fifty years from now, people will look back and see how we formed.”
In between conversation points, Dennison’s daughter announced door prize winners, the lot of whom chose to take home a new copy of “Vital Relations.”Then, the conversation partners turned to the “Land” section of the book. Dennison spoke of the day the Nation bought back land in the form of the Ted Turner Ranch. “There were eagles circling around and bison roaming the hills and I knew it would happen. All the branches of the government and our LLCs came together to get on the same page. … Colonialism created a system where we have been pitted against each other for so long. It has been very hard for us to come together and do this work and yet we’re doing it.” Shaw Duty added that the organization of the massive land purchase was akin to going to war. “Everyone came together to get the land,” said Shaw Duty.
Shaw Duty was asked what she was proud of at Osage News.
“The way the Osage Nation has created the opportunity to create a free press is just amazing. … There are many [Indigenous] journalists out there and they wish to cover their communities, but they can’t,” she said, noting that Osage News is one of only five tribes in the U.S. that have a free press, among the Navajo, Cherokee, and most recently, the Muscogee Creek.
The two then turned to the discussion of language. Dennison remembered Eddy Red Eagle Jr. and Dr. Mongrain “Mogri” Lookout earnestly looking at a tape player while listening to “the language in its full cadency and its full glory.” While the tribe is further ahead than many other language programs, there is much work to be done, said Dennison.
“Sometimes we want to throw a chair and say, ‘Why aren’t we further?’” Dennison said. “If we could have more fluent speakers …” she said, but then expressed excitement about what Braxton Redeagle and others are doing at the ON Language Department. “Including cool VR options to engage us with the language. … It is easy to give up, but if we could at least keep it alive in the ways that matter to us, then I have no doubt it’s going to have a strong future. … I really love the role I’ve gotten to play in the Nation for the last twenty years,” she concluded. “My favorite part about it is I’ve gotten to be behind the scenes.”
Dennison’s daughter read out the remaining door prize winners, and then the author closed the event with thanks to all and passionately urged “everyone to vote!” Osages stayed around visiting and signing their copies, and some posted to Facebook with appreciation after the event.
“I feel a profound sense of honor for having had the opportunity to attend the panel discussion hosted by Jean Dennison,” Alex DeRoin wrote. “Listening to her recount the long journey our Osage people have undertaken resonated deeply. Their eloquent articulation of the path that led to the embodied sovereignty we experience today, as beautifully captured in Jean’s book ‘Vital Relations’ reminded me of the words of my Two-Spirit elder, Jozi Tallchief: ‘None of us brings progress or change on our own. It takes a team effort.’”
“Vital Relations: How the Osage Nation Moves Indigenous Nationhood into the Future,” can be purchased on Amazon.
