We Are Still Here
An Indigenous Exploration of Identity, Heritage, and Belonging
Belonging is one of the most universal human needs, yet for many mixed-race Indigenous people, it can feel uncertain or contested. Tlingit author Alyssa London grew up with this tension, knowing who she was while sensing that others viewed her identity as something to debate.
In We Are Still Here, Alyssa interweaves her own story and conversations with Indigenous people across and beyond the United States to explore the deeper questions beneath identity: What defines belonging? Who gets to validate it? How do Indigenous people carry culture into the present when society often misunderstands or romanticizes them?
Through themes such as:
- Land- and place-based identity,
- Sovereignty and self-determination,
- Tribal economic development,
- Kinship, enrollment, and community-defined belonging,
- Cultural and artistic continuation,
- Representation and erasure, and
- Mixed-race identity and belonging,
Alyssa offers a portrait of Indigenous life that is expansive, ongoing, and deeply human, seeking to lay to rest the painful misconception that "real" Native people exist only in the past.
We Are Still Here is both personal and collective. It reminds readers that identity is not something you earn or prove. It is something you inherit, live, and choose every day, without needing to justify it to anyone.
Heartfelt and hopeful, this book speaks to anyone who has ever questioned where they fit and affirms that belonging and identity are not given to you. They are yours to claim.
Additional Information
- Contributor(s): Alyssa London
- About the Contributor(s):
Alyssa London is a storyteller, journalist, and creative entrepreneur whose work explores identity, belonging, and culture across film, media, and writing. She is the founder and CEO of Culture Story, a creative studio and media platform producing journalism, documentary, and narrative work across multiple formats and genres.
Alyssa has been a contributor to NBC News and MSNBC and hosted The Culture Is: Indigenous Women on Peacock. She was previously the first Tlingit Miss Alaska USA and a top 10 finalist at Miss USA, where she proudly represented Alaska Native culture on a national stage.
She is an enrolled citizen of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, a member of the Eagle Killerwhale clan, and an enrolled member of the Ketchikan Indian Community. She is also a tribal member shareholder of Shee Atiká and Sealaska Corporations. Her work centers Indigenous experience within broader conversations about identity and belonging.
- ISBN-13: 9781400255139
- Publish Date: 03/30/2027
- Publisher: Harper Celebrate
- Format: Hardcover
- Language: English
- Age Range: Adult
- Case Quantity: 24
- Pages: 240
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