Deborah A. Miranda is an American writer, poet, and professor of English at

Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University (Washington and Lee or W&L) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among ...

Life, Education and career

Miranda attended

Wheelock College Wheelock College was a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The college was founded in 1888 as the Miss Wheelock's Kindergarten Training School and was merged into Boston University as part of the university's Boston Univer ...

with a focus on teaching moderate special needs children. After receiving her B.S., she earned her MA and Ph.D. in English from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. She went on to become Thomas H. Broadhus professor of English at

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an Independent city (United States)#Virginia, independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, Virg ...

, where she taught creative writing, with a research interest in

Native American culture Native American cultures across the 574 current federally recognized tribes in the United States, can vary considerably by language, beliefs, customs, practices, laws, art forms, traditional clothing, and other facets of culture. Yet along wi ...

. In her scholarship, Miranda explores the ways in which the American canon has repressed and subjugated Indigenous culture, while giving breath to other historically marginalized groups, such as the

Chicano Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement. In the 1960s, ''Chicano'' was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward politic ...

s and Chicanas,

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

Japanese Americans are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian Americans, Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 United States census, 2000 census, they have declined in ...

Chinese Americans Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

, Appalachians, Southern Americans, and more. In 2012, Miranda received a Lenfest Sabbatical Grant for her project "The Hidden Stories of Isabel Meadows and Other California Indian Lacunae". In 2015, she won a

PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award The PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award is for U.S. multicultural writers, to "promote works of excellence by writers of all cultural and racial backgrounds and to educate both the public and the media as to the nature of multicultural work. ...

. Miranda maintains a blog and Twitter account known a
BAD NDNS
where she writes about her life, poetry, and essential histories.

Published work

Books

One of Miranda's major works is '' Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir'' (2013), in which she discusses the multiple time-frames and decades that the Esselen Nation and

California Indians Indigenous peoples of California, commonly known as Indigenous Californians or Native Californians, are a diverse group of nations and peoples that are indigenous to the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and afte ...

have dealt with. Also included in this memoir are Miranda's encounters with her family endeavors and actual news clippings and testimonies to emphasize the hardships felt at this time. Through these archival texts and her own personal testimony Miranda provides a unique exploration of the legacies of Indigenous genocide in California. In 2017, Miranda was a co-editor of the

two-spirit ''Two-spirit'' (also known as ''two spirit'' or occasionally ''twospirited'', or abbreviated as ''2S'' or ''2E'', especially in Canada) is a umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people who fulfill a trad ...

literature collection Sovereign Erotics. She is considered one of many important two-spirit writers working to reclaim buried histories of third genders from colonial erasure. Other major books include: *''The Zen of La Llorona,'' Salt Publishing, 2005. *''Indian Cartography'', Greenfield Review Press, 1999, Cover Art by Kathleen Smith (Dry Creek Pomo/Bodega Miwok) *''Altar to Broken Things,'' BkMk Press 2020. *''Raised By Humans,'' Tia Chucha Press 2015.

Poetry and essays

Miranda's poetry is widely anthologized, and she also writes scholarly articles tackling such issues as racism, colonialism, misogyny, intergenerational trauma, childhood trauma, identity, environmental crises, the political climate, and linguistic barriers. Some examples include: *"Lunatic or Lover, Madman or Shaman: The Role of the Poet in Contemporary Culture(s)." Stealing Light: A Raven Chronicles Anthology. Raven Chronicle Press. 2018. *"Tuolumne" in World Literature Today. May 2017. *"What's Wrong with a Little Fantasy? Storytelling from the (still) Ivory Tower" in ''American Indian Quarterly'', vol. 27, no. 1&2. *"A String of Textbooks: Artifacts of Composition Pedagogy in Indian Boarding Schools." ''The Journal of Teaching Writing''. Vol. 16.2, Fall 2000. *"I Don't Speak the Language that has the Sentences: An Interview with Paula Gunn Allen" in ''Sojourner: The Women's Forum''. February 1999, Vol. 24, No. 2. *"A Strong Woman Pursuing Her God: Linda Hogan's Power" in ''Sojourner: The Women's Forum''. November 2000, Vol. 26, No. 3.

Personal life

Miranda is a descendant from what are known as "

Mission Indians Mission Indians was a term used to refer to the Indigenous peoples of California who lived or grew up in the Spanish mission system in California. Today the term is used to refer to their descendants and to specific, contemporary tribal nations ...

," Indigenous peoples of many Southern California tribes who were forcibly removed from their land into several Franciscan missions. She is a member of the Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen Nation, an organization that does not have federal recognition. She describes herself as "the daughter of an Ohlone–Costanoan Esselen Nation man with Santa Ynez Chumash tribal ancestry and an English, French, and Jewish woman from Beverly Hills."

References

External links

Deborah Miranda page
at the

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is a United States literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthrop ...

Deborah A. Miranda's faculty page
at Washington and Lee University

* ttp://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A523 A short biographyfrom the Internet Public Library's Native American Authors Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Miranda, Deborah American women academics 1961 births University of Washington alumni Living people Pacific Lutheran University faculty LGBTQ people from California American women poets 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets Washington and Lee University faculty Writers from Los Angeles American people of French descent American people of Jewish descent Wheelock College alumni Poets from California Poets from Washington (state) 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Esselen American people who self-identify as being of Chumash descent