Professor Paul Watkins
Location: 345.208
Class: Monday and Wednesday 2:30-3:50
Office Hours: Tuesday 3:00-5:0 pm on Zoom
(or by appointment)
Email: paul.watkins@viu.ca
The stories we tell matter, especially since Canada’s story is often about the country’s strained relationship with Indigenous people. We will read, watch, and listen, as we engage with a range of Indigenous literatures (published in Canada) in media as far ranging as fiction, poetry, art, comics, literary theory, film, and music (including folk, throat singing, “powwow-step,” and hip-hop). While many of these stories deal with the lasting effects of Canada’s colonial past, they are also about healing, reconciliation, and hope. Given all the explored texts are written by authors living in Canada (although they all cross and straddle borders), questions of what defines Canada and one’s citizenship/ nationhood/ identity within that space will be explored. Remaining attentive to contemporary injustices and Indigenous resistance movements, we will also witness how the authors are engaged with the communities from which they write and to whom they respond. You will also get a chance to share your own experiences (or lack thereof) with Indigenous Literatures, film, and music, and there will be a creative intervention project. It is my hope to deal with the material as fully as possible while being attentive to a number of important critical concerns on how we interpret the literature. We will include space for Indigenous theories of interpretation, which tend to be personal, holistic, processual, and situated. As a settler scholar, I have limitations and I will get some things wrong, but I will be open to correct them and receive greater understanding. Ultimately, I feel the literature is really important and deserves a forum for deep critical thinking in the way that any great literature does. The hope in this course is to open up spaces that challenge the colonization that affects us all, whether we are aware of it or not. The course includes Zoom visits from two award-winning authors: Jordan Abel and Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas. Due to COVID-19, we will follow current health guidelines in the classroom, which might change as we collectively respond to new developments.
Primary Texts:
-
- Eden Robinson, Monkey Beach
- Jordan Abel, NISHGA
- Joshua Whitehead, Jonny Appleseed
- Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Red: A Haida Manga
- Cherie Dimaline, The Marrow Thieves
- Selected music, poetry, essays, and film
Evaluation:
Participation 5%
Oral Witnessing 5%
Reflection Papers (4 x 500 words) 40%
Creative Intervention (w/ 500 word write up) 20%
Research Essay (2500-3000 words) 30%
See the course outline on VIULearn for a detailed breakdown of assignments.
Resources:
- Useful CanLit guide on Indigenous Literatures in Canada
See a past version of a music playlist for the course: https://pauldbwatkins.com/2021/01/12/enlg-332-playlist-indigenous-music
Schedule:
Please note that this schedule is subject to change as the term progresses. Complete all viewings and readings before each class. [See the date changes in red]
Jan 10
Introduction exercise; course outline; standards and expectations
Jan 12
Reading: Thomas King, “You’ll Never believe What happened”; audio
Listening: Willie Dunn, “I Pity the Country” (1973)
Discussion of Reflection Papers
Jan 17
Reading: Tanya Talaga, All Our Relations (Chapters One, Two)
- CBC Audio
- More on All Our Relations
- The Lonely Death of Chanie Wenjack
- First Nation Suicides: The view from the Cowichan Valley
- TVO video interview with Tanya Talaga
- CBC Interview, “Suicide Should Not be ‘Normal‘”
Jan 19
Reading: Alicia Elliott, “Not Your Noble Savage”; Leanne Simpson, “Land as Pedagogy”
- Alicia Elliott on the Indigenous Renaissance in Canadian Arts
- Justin Trudeau’s lofty rhetoric on First Nations (The Guardian)
- Wab Kinew on stereotypes
- See Perception by KC Adams.
- Simpson’s webpage
- 14 Aboriginal Women Writers to Read, including Leanne Simpson
- Oceans of Love for Leanne Simpson’s…
- Music from Island of Decolonial Love
- Jacob Wren on Leanne Simpson
Jan 24
Reading: Eden Robinson, Monkey Beach (part one)
Reflection Paper, Option 1 [on King, “You’ll Never Believe,” Talaga, Simpson, or Elliott]
Jan 26
Reading: Eden Robinson, Monkey Beach (part two)
Jan 31
Reading: Eden Robinson, Monkey Beach (part three and four)
Reflection Paper, Option 2 [On Robinson]
Feb 2 and 7
Class Viewing: Loretta Todd, Monkey Beach (2020 | 103 min) [Crave]
Feb 9
Reading: Joshua Whitehead, Jonny Appleseed (1-108, Ch I-XXVII)
Reflection Paper, Option 3 [on Todd’s adaptation of Monkey Beach]
Feb 14
Reading: Joshua Whitehead, Jonny Appleseed (109-219, Ch XXVIII-LIV)
Viewing: Canada Reads clips; Whitehead on Appleseed
Reflection Paper, Option 4 [on Whitehead]
- Jonny Appleseed and Canada Reads
- Appleseed optioned for TV
Feb 16
Drew Hayden Taylor, selected from Take Us to Your Chief (VIULearn)
Recommended Home Viewing: Tracey Deer, Beans (2020 | 92 min)
Feb 21-25
Reading Week (no classes)
Feb 28
Reading: Jordan Abel, NISHGA
Classroom visit with Abel at 3 pm
March 2
Reading: Jordan Abel, NISHGA; selected poems
Reflection Paper, Option 5 [on Taylor, NISHGA, book and/or visit]
- See my review of NISHGA at The Malahat Review.
- Jordan Abel, Performances from the place of scraps
- “The silhouette of a pole on the shore of the Nass River” by Jordan Abel
March 7 and 9 [date change]
Viewing: Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown, SGAAWAAY K’UUNA, Edge of the Knife (2018| 100 min) [VIUTube]
March 14 [date change]
Reading: Michael Yahgulanaas, Red: A Haida Manga (online)
Viewing: Flight of the Hummingbird – Haida Manga
Class Visit with Michael Yahgulanaas at 3 pm
- The Epic Art of Haida Mythtellers by Matthew Spellberg
- See Haida artist Corey Bulpitt’s fusion between Hip Hop and Haida culture.]
- The work of Bill Reid
- Council of the Haida Nation
- Michael Yahgulanaas’s website
- Exhibition “Old Growth” by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
- On “Red: A Haida Manga“
- Other “Haida Manga” by Michael Yahgulanaas
- Tedx Talk by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
- “Strokes of Genius–Red by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas” by Adrian Hill.
- Brian Jungen’s Nike Masks and the Cultural Implications of Bricolage by Christina Froschauer
- CBC interview with MYN
- Art is Not a Noun, It’s a Verb: Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas on “Carpe Fin”
March 16 [date change]
Reading: Michael Yahgulanaas, Red: A Haida Manga (online)
Reflection Paper, Option 6 [on Yahgulanaas or SGAAWAAY K’UUNA]
March 21
Reading: Cherie Dimaline, The Marrow Thieves (1-55)
Secondary Reading: Please read “Introduction” (1-22) from Final Report of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (available on VIULearn)
- Dimaline on The Marrow Thieves
- 20 Questions with Dimaline
- Marrow Thieves trailer and more
- Drew Hayden Taylor on why he writes Indigenous Sci-Fi
- Gord Downie’s Secret Path
March 23
Reading: Cherie Dimaline, The Marrow Thieves (56-153)
- “We’ve Already Survived an Apocalypse: Indigenous Writers are Changing Sci-Fi“
- Indigenous and Black Writers are Using Sci-Fi to Imagine a Better Future
March 28
Reading: Cherie Dimaline, The Marrow Thieves (154-230)
Secondary Reading: “Calls to Action” (319-338) from Final Report of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (available on VIULearn)
Suggested Home Viewing: Stephen S. Campanelli, Indian Horse (2017 | 100 mins) [Criterion on Demand] or Jeff Barnaby, Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013 | 88 mins)
[Reflection Paper, Option 7 on Dimaline, Barnaby, Campanelli, or The Final Report]
- The Marrow Thieves optioned for TV
- 5 Things to read, watch, and listen to after…
- More from Canada Reads
- See Jesse Wente on Metro Morning discussing Indian Horse
- “The lonely death of Chanie Wenjack” by Ian Adams
March 30
Reading: Indigenous Poetry Reader (see VIULearn)
Creative Interventions Due (option for sharing)
- Interview with Gregory Scofield
- Poem about missing and murdered Indigenous women by Gregory Scofield
- See the Final Report on MMIWG
April 4
Reading: Indigenous Poetry Reader (see VIULearn)
Reflection Paper, Option 8 [Indigenous poetry]
April 6
Reading: Jeannette Armstrong, “Keepers of the Earth” and Joshua Whitehead, “Writing as Rupture: A Breakup Note to CanLit”
Recommended Home Viewing: Jeff Barnaby, Blood Quantum (2019 | 138 min) [Criterion on Demand]
Research Paper Due
- How indigenous zombie horror film ‘Blood Quantum’ became prescient in the pandemic
- Jeff Barnaby is Worried White People Won’t Get Blood Quantum
Enjoy your summer!
PAUL WATKINS 