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Susan Devan Harness

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Susan Devan Harness

Goodreads Author


Born
Missoula, MT, The United States
Website

Twitter

Genre

Influences
Brene Brown, Anne Lamott, Sherman Alexie

Member Since
December 2008


Susan Devan Harness is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, a cultural anthropologist, writer and speaker, and author of Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption.

Bitterroot recently received the Barbara Sudler Award from History Colorado for Best Creative Nonfiction by a Female Writer, as well as Best Indigenous Writer and Best Creative Nonfiction in the High Plains Book Awards. Bitterroot was also a finalist in the Colorado Book Awards.

Ms. Harness shared her expertise on the TEDxMileHigh stage with her presentation "Adopting a Child of a Different Race? Let's Talk..."

Ms. Harness's profession, as well as her experience as an American Indian transracial adoptee, gives her a unique perspective on the history
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Susan Devan Harness I think you were doing what you thought was right at the time, without fully understanding the history of what Indian child placement meant: move them…moreI think you were doing what you thought was right at the time, without fully understanding the history of what Indian child placement meant: move them permanently away from the family and community because the boarding schools didn't accomplish that. However, as you and I have talked about, a lot of these issues that I talk about didn't become known, let alone acknowledged for a long time. It is my hope that if such placements occur, and they will, that the child is not permanently removed from their family and community. It's well documented the harm is causes in the long term. I'm so sorry for your loss.(less)
Susan Devan Harness After conducting my research about American Indian transracial adoptees, I wanted to make it accessible to a wider, more general audience. An audience…moreAfter conducting my research about American Indian transracial adoptees, I wanted to make it accessible to a wider, more general audience. An audience that was talking about adoption because they either adopted, or had a child removed, or were working to place a child, or were interested in policy regarding adoption. In order to do that, I had to take an academic, scholarly book and adapt it so one didn't need a dictionary in order to understand most of the words and phrasing. Creative nonfiction seemed to be the best possible format with which to tell the story of child placement as the trajectories of American Indian history, policy and social memory collided, sometimes violently.(less)
Average rating: 4.25 · 611 ratings · 120 reviews · 3 distinct worksSimilar authors
Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir...

4.29 avg rating — 342 ratings — published 2018 — 5 editions
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When We Become Ours: A YA A...

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4.19 avg rating — 270 ratings — published 2023 — 5 editions
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Mixing Cultural Identities ...

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Exploring what’s In The Best Interest of the Child in American Indian Transracial Adoption

Last April I spoke with Lizzie Hudson, for her podcast Trauma Matters. We spoke about those issues so important to me: American Indian children who have been (and are continuing to be) placed in white homes, and the social memories and cultural structures that make it so difficult for us to lay claim to our heritage. This is a two-part podcast titled Footprints that Don’t Go Away. Part I discusses

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Published on November 08, 2023 09:23
Sea of Tranquility
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A Moveable Feast
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The Faraway Nearby
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I really enjoyed The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, whose foundation lay in the life of a young woman, Andre de Jongh, who created an escape route for downed airmen in Nazi-occupied France in WWII.

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For so many years, I had my go-to mystery/crime authors that I rarely wandered from, including Tony Hillerman, Sara Paretsky, PD James, among others. But as I've got older, I began to seek new blood, so to speak. And although James Patterson has been ...more
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Beautiful memoir, a tribute to his father, a brilliant psychiatrist who is diagnosed with Alzheimers. I identified with much he wrote, having spent so much time with my mom who'd had dementia. Like Kozol, I learned more about her life though her mate ...more
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