Morning Session: Resources for Teaching Native American Studies

Welcome to Day 2: April 17 CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN FILM AND FICTION Susan Power (born 1961) and Sherman Alexie (born 1966)

• Morning Session:

• Resources for Teaching Native American Studies

Part I: Resources for Teaching Native American Studies

• Additional Handout Material

• Reservation areas (map)
• Tribal areas (map)
• Traditional Cultural Areas

• Timelines

• Legal Status of Native Americans

TIMELINE I

• THE PERIOD BEFORE COLUMBUS

• 40,000-13,000 B.C: ICE AGE
• The migration of peoples from Siberia to Alaska over a land bridge
• 13,000 B.C.-1492 A.D.
• Native Americans establish communities in all of N & S America
• 1006 A.D. Vikings travel to ”Vinland”
• By 1492 there were:
• Approx 1 million Natives in N America (several million in S)
• 21 language groups (200 separate languages)
• Several hundred different tribes

TIMELINE II

• THE PERIOD AFTER COLUMBUS

• 1492-1600 Spanish Conquest of S America
• 1600s European Colonization of N America
• 1700s
• 1754 French and Indian War
• 1763 Royal Proclamation Establishing ”Indian Territory”
• 1775-1783: The American Revolution
• 1800s
• 1803 Lousiana Purchase
• 1830 Indian Removal Act (S East)
• 1862 Homestead Act (West and N West)
• 1865-1890: The Indian Wars/ Plains Indians

TIMELINE III

• THE 20TH CENTURY

• 1924: Native Americans Become U.S. Citizens
• Native American participation in WWI, WWII, Vietnam etc
• From the 1960s: period of Native American political activism
• Blossoming of Contemporary Native American Literature
• 1961: Susan Power born
• 1966: Sherman Alexie born
• 1990: Census registered nearly 2 million Native Americans
• 2000: Census registered 4.1 million Native Americans
• the dramatic leap in demographic numbers has to do with registration methods, etc

Part II: Introduction to Susan Power and The Grass Dancer

• I. WAYS OF READING THE NOVEL:

• As a postmodern novel: (consider topics we have previously discussed)

• As a novel that incorporates elements of magic realism

• As an indigenous/ Native American novel.

• II. Narrative techniques in The Grass Dancer

• Power employs multiple narrative techniques in this novel; reasons for her choices may be connected to the

• genesis of the novel (written as short stories)
• world view in the novel (communal history and cyclical time more important than the individual character or linear time)
• postmodern issues

• Each chapter balances the narration between the chapter’s narrator (either first or third person), and various focalizers (characters whose point of view we follow)

• III. Characters/Generations

Susan Power’s The Grass Dancer Generations of Characters: Charlene’s Family

Susan Power’s The Grass Dancer Generations of Characters: Harley’s Family

Part III: Sherman Alexie and Smoke Signals OVERVIEW OF TOPICS

• Introduction to Sherman Alexie

• The story collection: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993)

• Resources on individual stories

• Readings from individual stories

• (”Because My Father....” and ”This Is What it means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”)

• The Film Smoke Signals

STUDY RESOURCES: “BECAUSE MY FATHER ALWAYS SAID HE WAS THE ONLY INDIAN TO SEE JIMI HENDRIX PLAY ‘THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER’ AT WOODSTOCK” (PDF FILE)

• Introduction

• Author Biography

• Plot Summary

• Characters

• Themes

• Style

• Historical Context

• Critical Overview

• Criticism (Three Critical Essays)

• Media Adaptations

• Topics for Further Study

• Compare & Contrast

• What Do I Read Next?

• Further Reading

• Sources

• Copyright Information

• How to Cite the Story

Web links

• http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/power_susan.html (Susan Power)

• http://www.fallsapart.com/

• (Sherman Alexie’s home page)

• http://www.bookrags.com/account/

• (online literary resources)

• http://www.spraksikring.com/ (pdf files, etc)

• http://uit.no/humfak/tilsette/54

• (Sandra’s office webpage)

Smoke Signals 1998

• All Native-American Production

• Intertextual Film Genres:

• The Western (esp. John Wayne Movies)
• Cowboy-and-Indian Movies
• The Road Movie
• The TV series “The Lone Ranger”

Bill from the TV Show

Smoke Signals readings from adapted stories

• “BECAUSE MY FATHER ALWAYS SAID HE WAS THE ONLY INDIAN TO SEE JIMI HENDRIX PLAY ‘THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER’ AT WOODSTOCK”

• “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”

• Main characters: two young men: the “cool” Victor and the “nerdy” Thomas Builds-the-Fire

• Plot/themes: reservation life; the characters’ childhood and loss of parents; journey to Phoenix after the death of Victor’s father