Dr. Marcella LaFever is a professor emeritus from the School of Communication at UFV.
Written under her pen name, Cella Anne, Dr. LaFever has published her first book called 404 Years. It is an autobiography of her life as well as past generations in her family history dating back to the first settlers in the 1600s. Dr. LaFever spoke with The Cascade about working at UFV, her new book, and how it relates to Indigenization. Her book can be purchased at Friesen Press, local and second hand bookstores.
What did you like most about working at UFV?
I liked that we had one of the most culturally diverse departments in the university, which I didn’t realize until I was at a college-wide meeting one day. People were going around saying who they were, and I realized we had people in our department from all corners of the Earth.
Can you talk about your past advocacy for Indigenization at UFV?
My dissertation that I completed at the University of New Mexico was looking at the communication in the modern-day BC Treaty process … [Dr. Shirley] Swelchalot Hardman, who is now the AVP [Associate Vice President] for Indigenous programming … recruited me into working on Indigenization, which was really a new, concerted effort at that time to look at that … Every time anybody asked me to do anything that was related to that, I said yes. And, so I learned a lot in that process … I contributed a lot, but I think I learned [much] more.
Why is Indigenization at university so important today?
It’s really important for all schools, but certainly for universities, to be conscious of making the university a place where Indigenous peoples actually feel like they can come to and be themselves, and recognize their identity within the work that they do, the programs that they choose, and the projects that they take part in.
What inspired you to write this book?
I had no intention of writing it, but as I was retiring, three different people … asked me if I was going to write a book. I said, no, absolutely not, why would I do that? … But when the third person asked me, I started thinking about why they [were]. Maybe there’s something that I need to tell, and if that’s true, then what is it? So, I had to start thinking about what is it in my life that would be worthwhile to tell.
…I knew that my great-grandfather got his land through a land run in Oklahoma, and that was certainly a displacement of Indigenous peoples … I had played with [researching] it a little bit, but I hadn’t really seriously gone back and looked at who these families were and what they did. So I thought, for my own education, I need to do that; and maybe this is also a track that I can use to formulate this book.
…I did discover that my ancestors did own slaves but that there were some that also fought against slavery, and all of these things I brought into the book and told that story. [I] also paralleled it with my own story of growth and coming to the work that I did do. I told it from the women’s voices as I told my own story from my voice.
Were there any challenges?
I was using Ancestry and also looking in other archives and things, but I discovered there’s a lot of wrong information. So verifying your information is super important. I had to spend a lot of time on that, more so for some families than others … because [maybe] there’s other people in your family doing the genealogy work as well, and they may have a lot of wrong information that they haven’t verified, so verifying [and] not just trusting that people have the right information. That’s one area, and being able to find certain kinds of records and not giving up on finding [them].
How does your book incorporate Indigenization work?
One of the things that I did in the book, in the spirit of continuing the reconciliation and indigenization work, was [that] every section and chapter is headed with the year … the indigenous territory in which that particular story takes place, and then the modern name of that place. So, recognizing that territorial acknowledgement for every place where the family lived [and] travelled to.
What advice would you give to authors wanting to publish their work?
Get out there and do it. Some people have been holding their stories in their life for years and years … I recommend they do it, because even if you only write it for yourself and your family, it’s important to pass it on.
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Rachel is working towards a BA with a concentration in English and Theatre. She has been employed at The Cascade since Fall 2021 as a Staff Writer and a Jr. News Editor. Currently, she is the sectional News Editor and enjoys meeting and interviewing people as well as taking long walks in nature. Rachel also likes to stay up to date on the latest trends and informs students through her fashion column entitled Campus Fashion.