Utah State University’s Mountain West Center for Regional Studies has announced the 2018 winners of the Evans Biography Awards for books published in 2017. Author and ethnographer Rodney Frey won the Evans Handcart Award for his book Carry Forth the Stories: An Ethnographer’s Journey into Native Oral Tradition (Washington State University Press, 2017).
Frey, who holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and is a professor of ethnography at the University of Idaho, has spent more than 40 years interacting with such tribal communities as the Crow, Coeur d’Alene and Nez Perce. He describes Carry Forth the Stories as an “ethnographic memoir” that weaves events of his own life story with stories collected from interviews, oral histories and elders that show the power and value of storytelling. He also shares facets of his own cancer journey seeking therapy from both Native and Western healing traditions.
