Studies in Native American and Indigenous Literatures (374-0-20)
Topic
What is an Indigenous Book?
Instructors
Kelly E Wisecup
Meeting Info
Parkes Hall 224: Mon, Wed 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
In 1893, the Potawatomi writer Simon Pokagon circulated a birchbark book, The Red Man's Rebuke (also titled The Red Man's Greeting), which was printed to circulate at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Pokagon strongly criticized the Fair's celebration of Columbus's "discovery" of the Americas in the book's text, but Pokagon's words are not the only form this critique takes. The birchbark pages, the illustrations, the process by which the books were made and printed: these elements extend Pokagon's critique to questions of environmental destruction, political sovereignty, and gendered experiences of colonialism.
This class asks: What is an Indigenous book? We will learn and practice methods for reading materiality (what is paper made of?) and process (who printed the books? Prepared the pages? Circulated them for sale?). In doing so, we will examine how Indigenous writers and artists experiment with the materials of bookmaking to make the book form part of its meaning. We will examine how critically questioning the book form can decenter individual authors; raise questions about many people who participated in making, circulating, reading, and keeping books; and orient us to the trees and plants out of which books are made.
This is an experimental, hands-on course where we will not only learn methods for making books but practice them as well. We will learn how to look at Indigenous books that take various forms: these include codices that open like accordions or fans; printed or sewn designs on birchbark; contemporary artist books that combine graphic arts with ancient book forms or that embed material objects like bullets on a page, or books that look like the thing they are about. We will understand processes of making and circulating books and how to connect those processes to the literary meanings on the page. We will consult these very cool and very special books during class sessions at NU's Special Collections and at other libraries, and the class will also include engagement with letterpress printing, as well as discussions with Potawatomi scholars and artists about birchbark books and other objects.
Teaching Method
Discussion, hands on workshops, conversations with visiting artists.
Evaluation Method
Short reflections; annotated bibliography; preparation for and participation in discussion; final project designed by instructor and students.
Class Materials (Required)
As Sacred To US: Simon Pokagon's Birch Bark Stories In Their Contexts (9781611864625)
All additional texts will be available on Canvas.
Texts will be available at: The University bookstore. If you'd like to purchase the book from a Native-owned or independent bookstore, see Louise Erdrich's store Birchbark Books, which will ship books (be sure to order well in advance): https://birchbarkbooks.com/ or for Evanston/Chicago independent bookstores, check out Bookends & Beginnings (Evanston); Women and Children First (Andersonville); and Unabridged (Lakeview).
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
U.S. Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity