Indigenous Writing in English.
ENGL 329
Trimester 1, 2006
Indigenous
Writing in English.
Class sessions
Lecture: Thursday
10 - 11.50am
Hugh Mackenzie LT002
Weekly tutorials: ** tba
Course Organisation
Lecturer/
Convener:
alice.tepungasomerville@vuw.ac.nz
4636818
(internal: 6818)
office VZ909
Tutor: ** tba
Guest
Lecturers: Maria Bargh (Maori Studies VUW),
Teresia Teaiwa (Pacific Studies VUW),
Dennis McDermott
Course Texts
- Course Notes (all of the required texts, other
that those included in the anthology skins,
are included in this reader)
- Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm & Josie
About ENGL329: Indigenous Writing in English
This course
holds the writing of Indigenous peoples at its centre. Through the creative
works (fiction, poetry, journalism and activist texts, memoir and so on) of
Indigenous people, we will explore and interrogate the concepts of Indigeneity,
comparative Indigenous studies, nation, anticolonial
resistance, decolonisation and the Urban Indigenous experience. We will also
read critical writing about global Indigenous literatures, and about
comparative inquiry. Because of our location in Aotearoa, and the Pacific, a
major focus of this course will be Maori and Pacific writing. However, we will
also read texts from Indigenous Nations that exist within the borders of
Course Aims
and Objectives
By the end of
the course, you will be able to:
- discuss with some confidence
the key features of the Indigenous Nations in each of the four
nation-states (NZ,
- articulate the
central arguments, and discuss some examples of, a ‘pan-Indigenous’ global
- critically consider
specific texts by Indigenous writers, and contextualise these texts
through an understanding of literary traditions and the politics of publication
and anthologising.
- discuss the role of
Indigenous writing that comes from, and/or engages with, urban Indigenous
communities.
Class sessions
This course is
arranged into four thematic modules:
- writing
our specificity, which focuses on specific indigenous nations
subsumed by specific nation state contexts;
- writing
our indigeneity, which considers the multiple modes of
connection between indigenous communities, including the very term
‘indigenous’;
- rewriting
ourselves, which explores genealogies of historical and
contemporary non-indigenous representations of indigenous peoples ; and
- writing ourselves, which looks at the
particular ways in which indigenous writers treat the urban indigenous
experience.
Each module
asks a set of particular questions, and also contributes to our broader
exploration of the course aims and objectives.
Obviously, you
are expected to prepare for each class session by completing all of the
relevant readings and writing assignments.
|
week/ lecture date |
tutorial topic |
lecture topic |
student writing |
|
1/ 2 March |
no tutorials |
Framing |
report #1
due 6.3 |
|
2/ 9 March |
Framing |
|
report #a |
|
3/ 16 March |
|
|
report #b |
|
4/ 23 March |
|
|
report #c |
|
5/ 30 March |
|
Indigenous
Pacific |
report #d |
|
6/ 6 April |
Indigenous
Pacific |
In-class
Anthology exercise |
group wk #2
due 24.4 |
|
|
|
mid-trimester
break |
|
|
7/ 27 April |
Anthology
exercise |
Global Indigenous |
essay #2
starter |
|
8/ 4 May |
Global
Indigenous |
‘ |
essay #2
final due 8.5 |
|
9/ 11 May |
ways of
reading |
non-Indig. representation 1 |
research
essay starter |
|
10/ 18 May |
non-Indig. repr. |
non-Indig. representation 2 |
report #5 |
|
11/ 25 May |
urban
Indigenous |
urban
Indigenous writing |
report #6 |
|
12/ 1 June |
|
wrapping up |
research
essay due 6.6 |
Week
1 (2/3) Introductions/
Framing
|
read (in class) |
Introduction
to skins |
|
watch |
Maori TV! |
|
write (due to
Lecturer Monday 6 March 5pm; sending it to me via email is fine) |
Report #1 What does
‘Indigenous’ mean? In your writing, reflect on where you got your ideas about
‘indigenous’ from. What do you bring to this class? Why does it interest you?
|
“writing our specificity”
·
What are key
aspects of the specific contexts of the Nations subsumed by
·
What is the
role of specific naming in the construction and maintenance of indigenousness?
Week
2 (9/3) Aotearoa New
|
read |
Grace,
Grace-Smith, Ihimaera and Komene
from skins Ramsden,
Potiki, Mita from TAM2
(handouts) |
|
watch |
Mauri,
Te Rua, Tama Tu, The
Little Things, Two Cars One Night, Tama Tu |
|
write (due in
lecture) |
Report #a Reflect on
something from the world around you this week that pertains to the issue of
Maori rights/ position as tangata whenua. |
Week
3 (16/3)
guest: Dennis McDermott
|
read |
Frankland,
Laughton, Lucashenko, Morgan, Pascoe and Wright
from skins Ooodgeroo.
“Aboriginal Charter of Rights.” Reconciliation:
Essays on Australian Reconciliation. Michelle Grattan (ed). Boori Monty
Pryor. “Breaking the Cycle.” Reconciliation:
Essays on Australian Reconciliation. Michelle Grattan (ed). Martin Nakata. “Better.” Blacklines:
contemporary critical writing by Indigenous Australians. Michele Grossman
(ed). Helen Lockyer. “Fragments from Life.” Reconciliation: Essays on Australian Reconciliation.
Michelle Grattan (ed). Jack Davis. “black life.” Fresh cuttings: a Celebration of fiction
and poetry from UQP’s Black Writing Series. Sue
Abbey & Sandra Phillips (eds). St Lucis, Qld: Melissa Lucashenko. “I Am Not My Life.” untreated: poems by black writers.
Josie Douglas (ed). Melissa Lucashenko. “You are the Fringes.” untreated: poems by black writers.
Josie Douglas (ed). Graeme Dixon. “Darryl.” untreated:
poems by black writers. Josie Douglas (ed). Janice Slater. “The March.” Reconciliation:
Essays on Australian Reconciliation. Michelle Grattan (ed). Marcia Langton. “Aboriginal art and film: the politics of
representation.” Blacklines: contemporary critical writing by
Indigenous Australians. Michele Grossman (ed). |
|
watch |
Radiance,
Rabbit Proof Fence |
|
write (due in
lecture) |
Report #b Talk to
someone who has been to |
Week
4 (23/3)
|
read |
Alexie,
Blaeser, Bruchac, Erdrich, Hogan, Campbell, Ipellie,
King and Van Camp from skins Joy Harjo. “Perhaps the World Ends Here.” Reinventing the Enemy’s Language:
Contemporary Native Women’s Writing of Chrystos. “I have
not signed a treaty with the United States Government.” Border Texts: Cultural Vine DeLoria, Jr.
“Indian Humour.” Nothing but the Truth:
an Anthology of Native American Literature. John Purdy & James Ruppert (eds). Fred Bigjim. “Ballet in Nila NorthSun. “99 things to do before you die.” Reinventing the Enemy’s Language:
Contemporary Native Women’s Writing of Nila NorthSun. “red flags yellow
flags.” Returning the Gift: Poetry and
Prose from the First North American Native Writers’ Festival. Joseph Bruchac (ed). Nila NorthSun. “stupid questions.” Returning the Gift: Poetry and Prose from
the First North American Native Writers’ Festival. Joseph Bruchac (ed). Nora Marks Dauenhauer. “How to Make Good
Baked Salmon from the River.” Reinventing
the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native Women’s Writing of Janet Campbell Hale. “The Only Good Indian.” Reinventing the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native Women’s Writing
of Diane Glancy. “Genealogy.” Returning the Gift: Poetry and Prose from
the First North American Native Writers’ Festival. Joseph Bruchac (ed). Elise Paschen. “Two Standards.” Returning the Gift: Poetry and Prose from
the First North American Native Writers’ Festival. Joseph Bruchac (ed). Gail Tremblay. “After the Invasion.” Reinventing the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native Women’s Writing
of Leslie Marmon Silko. “Language and
Literature from a Leslie Marmon Silko. “(Untitled).” Nothing but the Truth: an Anthology of
Native American Literature. John Purdy & James Ruppert
(eds). |
|
watch |
Smoke
Signals, The Business of Fancydancing , Dance Me
Outside |
|
write (due in
lecture) |
Report #c Write a
personal response to one of the texts from the readings for this week. |
Week
5 (30/3) Indigenous Pacific
guest: Dr Teresia
Teaiwa
|
read |
Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard. “introduction: a kind of genealogy.” Alchemies of Distance. Karlo Mila.
“Beyond Blackbirder Legacies.” Dream
Fish Floating. Karlo Mila. “On
Joining Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard. “Sa Nafanua.” Alchemies
of Distance. David Welchman Gegeo.
“Cultural Rupture and Indigeneity: The Challenge of (Re)visioning
‘Place’ in the Pacific.” The
Contemporary Pacific 13 (2): 2001: 491-507 Haunani-Kay Trask. “Introduction.” From a Native Daughter. Haunani-Kay Trask. “Sisters.” Reinventing
the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native Women’s Writing of Haunani-Kay Trask. “Writing in Captivity: Poetry in a Time of
Decolonization.” Inside Out: Literature,
Cultural Politics and Identity in the New Pacific. Vilsoni
Hereniko & Rob Wilson (eds).
Laura Marie Torres Souder. “Island Metamorphosis: |
|
watch |
The Land Has
Eyes, **Hawaiian – kava etc |
|
write (due in
lecture) |
Report #d How does the
Indigenous Pacific fit into the framework ‘Indigenous?’ Imagine that Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm and Josie
Douglass have asked you whether texts from the Indigenous Pacific should have
been included in their anthology skins.
Keeping in mind the texts you have read for this week, write them a
reply. |
Week
6 (6/4) In-class
Anthology exercise
|
discuss/ write (Both group
and individual writing due Monday 24 April.) |
This
compulsory class session will be spent working on the Group Work 2
assignment. You need to
bring with you the text you want to include in your group’s anthology (see
detailed description of assignment for more information). |
>Mid trimester break<
“writing our indigeneity”