Prerequisites: Graduate standing in English or permission of the instructor.

Recent offerings:

Northeastern Native American Literature (Spring 2011, Lukens)

In this course we will use the recently published (2008) Passamaquoddy-Maliseet dictionary as a foundational text.  As a basis for looking at other Wabanaki texts, as well as texts by northeastern Native writers outside the Wabanaki tribes, we will read the dictionary to consider the ways speakers of the Passamaquoddy-Maliseet language have carefully documented the meanings of words and phrases through story to ensure the cultural survival of their people.  We will work with New England Native scholars and community members, who are contributing to the preservation and teaching of Native languages; we will learn to recognize Native cultural influence on the life of our region.  The importance of Wabanaki writers’ self-definition through writing emerges within the larger context of Native resistance to economic and political disenfranchisement, as well as cultural assimilation.  Based on our consideration of Wabanaki language and literature, we will also consider works from writers in other Native American tribal traditions.

Texts at University Bookstore:

• The Common Pot, Lisa Brooks (Abenaki)
• Firsting and Lasting, Jean O’Brien (Ojibwe)
• A Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Dictionary, David Francis (Passamaquoddy)
• and Robert Leavitt
• Life and Traditions of the Red Man, Joseph Nicolar (Penobscot)
• Prayers, Poems, and Pathways, ssipsis (Penobscot)
• Mother/Land, Cheryl Savageau (Abenaki)
• Tales from Maliseet Country, Philip LeSourd
• Aboriginally Yours, Henry Red Eagle (Maliseet)
• New Familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues (1884), Joseph Laurent (Abenaki)
• Abenaki Indian legends, grammar and place names (1932), Henry Lorne Masta (Abenaki)
• Stones and Switches, Lorne Simon (Mi’kmaq)
• Song of Rita Joe, Rita Joe (Mi’kmaq)

Texts in photocopy or on library reserve:

• Legends of the Micmacs, Silas Tertius Rand
• The Wampum Records, Lewis Mitchell (Passamaquoddy)

Not yet ordered, but being considered:

• Ceremony, Leslie Silko (Laguna Pueblo)
• Combing the Snakes from His Hair, James Stevens (Mohawk)
• Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Tomson Highway (Cree)
• Red on Red, Craig Womack (Muscogee)

Assignments:

Students will meet initially to read and discuss primary works by Native playwrights; you will be expected to produce an informal written response to each week’s reading and discuss.  These informal writings (worksheets) will provide an opportunity to explore and create ideas for the more formal project.

Each student will be expected to initiate discussion on a particular work or thematic grouping of works.  Discussion may be based on one or more critical articles or historical texts the student has read, and the student should feel free to compose questions for the class as conversation starters.  A bibliography of sources is due at the class in which the student initiates discussion.

Based on reading and other experiences in the course, students will propose term projects of their own design. Term projects should focus on the production of theoretical, literary critical, or contextualizing papers about the practice and reception of literature in the Native Northeast, and its relationship to both Native and non-Native communities.  Very rough, but VERY ENGAGED drafts of term projects will be due mid-semester; final drafts are due during exam week.

Evaluation:

Attendance and participation are vital; graduate courses meet once per week; therefore each class meeting is an essential site for learning and development of ideas.   Weekly informal writing, discussion preparation, term project proposal, rough draft, and completed project.

Fall 2008, Lukens

This is a course establishing some familiarity with a range of plays written by Native American and First Nations playwrights, but concentrating mainly on the production of critical and contextual writing about these plays and their potential audiences. Special emphasis on the development and application of theoretical approaches to intertribal theater, and on documenting the intersection of intertribal theater with both Native and non-Native communities. Some attention to the history and development of Native theater troupes will be included in the course; students will also seek out information on performance history and critical reception of plays in production. As necessary, these readings will be contextualized by instruction, research, and further reading on history and cultures of Native American and First Nations peoples and playwrights.

Required Texts:

• A Stray Dog and other plays of the blood quantum, by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. Ed. Margo Lukens (forthcoming)
• American Indian Theater in Performance: a Reader. Ed. Hanay Geiogamah and Jaye T. Darby (2000) UCLA.
• Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing. Tomson Highway (1989) Fifth House.
• Red on Red: Native American Literary Separatism. Craig S. Womack (1999) University of Minnesota Press.
• Seventh Generation: an Anthology of Native American Plays. Ed. Mimi Gisolfi D’Aponte (1999) Theatre Communications Group.
• Staging Coyote’s Dream: an anthology of First Nations drama in English. Ed. Monique Mojica and Ric Knowles (2003) Playwrights Canada Press
• Stories of Our Way: an Anthology of American Indian Plays. Ed. Hanay Geiogamah and Jaye T. Darby (1999) UCLA.
• The Rez Sisters. Tomson Highway (1988) Fifth House.
• Where the Pavement Ends: five Native American plays. William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. (2000) University of Oklahoma Press.

Beyond the texts listed above, you will be expected to do research on criticism of Native drama, as well as on performance history and critical reception of performances.

Assignments: Students will meet initially to read and discuss primary works (plays) by Native playwrights; you will be expected to produce an informal written response to each play we read and discuss.  These informal writings provide an opportunity to explore and create ideas for the more formal project.

Each student will be expected to initiate discussion on a particular play or playwright or thematic grouping; discussion may be based on one or more critical articles.

Based on reading and other experiences in the course, students will propose term projects of their own design. Term projects should focus on the production of theoretical, literary critical, or contextualizing papers about the practice and reception of intertribal theater, and its relationship to both Native and non-Native communities.

Evaluation: Attendance and participation are vital; graduate courses meet once per week, and therefore each class meeting counts.  Additionally, evaluation is based upon weekly informal writing, discussion preparation, term project proposal, and completed project.

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