How do the characters in There There navigate this modern form of identity of "Urban Indian" alongside their ancestral roots?

Throughout the novel, characters struggle with the perceived authenticity of their Native identity. For some, this manifests in physical appearance: Dene, for example, worries that the Native panelist for his grant application interview won't realize Dene is Native, too, because has such pale skin. Other characters disavow ownership over Native identity and stories because they do not think they know enough: Calvin, for example, doesn't want to speak on behalf of his own Native identity and says he has no stories to tell. Many of Orange's characters' lives are shaped by the quest to find authenticity in their indigenous identities; that quest, in turn, shapes of the plot of the novel. Edwin is driven to join the powwow committee in order to get closer to his Native father, whom he has never met. Blue moves halfway across the country to try to find her mother's tribe after growing up in an adopted white family. Orvil learns about Indian dancing in secret, steals his grandmother's regalia, and enters the powwow competition—only to feel like a fraud dressed in feathers. The complicated relationship between indigenous identity and authenticity is never resolved by Orange, nor by his characters. It is simply a dance which each of them has to navigate.