This is the website for Professor Martin's spring 2008 sections of English 182: Colonial & Postcolonial World Literature, which for this semester will focus on "Recent Fiction by First Nations Writers in Canada." This site will contain everything related to the course except for grades.

Blog and participation/attendance grades

As you know, you're also being graded for your blog postings and for participation and attendance. Here's how I've determined those grades:

Blog grade:

A: To earn an A on the blog component of the course all assignments must have been completed and comments posted by the assigned deadline. Comments are thoughtful, fully answer the question asked, and, if specified in the blog prompt, take into account the comments of other students.

B: All assignments completed, mostly on time. Thoughtful comments, though perhaps briefer and less engaging than those that merit an A.

C: Most assignments completed, primarily at the end of the semester and/or comments are short, perfunctory answers to the blog prompt with little consideration of the comments of others.

D: Only partial completion of the assignments and comments show little commitment to making a contribution to the discussion.

F: Failure to complete more than 50% of the assigned blog questions.

Participation grade:

A: Nearly 100% attendance, unless due to illness or family emergency AND active participation in class. Clearly on top of the reading and regularly speaks in class. Always engaged in the discussion, whether vocally contributing or not.

B: Missed very few classes (2 or 3 max), unless due to illness or family emergency. Participated in class vocally on a fairly regular basis, but, more importantly, is always listening and attentive to the ongoing discussion. Unprepared for class occasionally, but usually caught up on the reading and willing to contribute.

C: Misses more than three classes for reasons other than illness or family emergency. Clearly behind in the reading on at least several occasions. Mostly attentive and speaks in class several times over the course of the semester. Makes a good effort to stay involved in class discussion and appears interested.

D: Regularly missing from class and/or frequently appears disinterested. Routinely behind on reading and fails to bring books to class. Leaves class from time to time to take phone calls thinking that the professor thinks they are using the bathroom, continually passes notes back and forth with someone else, works on other homework, reads the newspaper during class, checks e-mail or text messages while instructor or classmates are speaking, all of which, I should add, are apparent to the instructor and your classmates and immediately qualify you for a D.

F: Attendance and participation not worthy of a D or higher. Failure to attend most classes and/or to participate in any meaningful way.

Final exam update and course wrapup

Just a reminder to finish your blog postings if you have not already done so. Although you will lose some marks for not completing these on schedule, it's well worth your while to complete this assignment.

If you missed the final class on Tuesday, I also recommend that you contact me for details about the final exam that are not being posted on the blog (i.e. the essay questions for the essay portion of the final exam).

Finally, although this will not be a required response for the blog grade, I'd be interested to hear your comments on the course. Which books did you like the best? If I had to take one off the course to replace it with another, which one would you take off? Which one would you absolutely want to keep on the course? What surprised you most about the material we read? You can post your thoughts as comments to this posting, or e-mail me directly. You're welcome, too, to wait until after the course is done and grades are submitted.

Final exam format

As you recall, the exam is divided into two sections.

In the first, you will have a choice of three questions and will write an essay that responds to one of them. In that essay, you will talk about three texts we have read this semester, at least two of which have to be novels.

In the second section (though you can work on these sections in whichever order you prefer) you will have to identify five out of eight passages.

Everything we have read is fair game for this exam. The passage identifications will include at least one selection from one of the essays or short stories we have read.

Here's what that question will look like:

PART B (50%):

CHOOSE FIVE OF THE FOLLOWING EIGHT PASSAGES AND IDENTIFY THE FOLLOWING:

• The title and author of the text from which the passage is taken (1 mark)
• The names of the speakers, listeners, or narrator if relevant (1 mark)
• When and where this passage takes place in the book if relevant (1 mark)
• The significance of this passage. Questions you will need to consider in this regard include: What do we learn from this passage? Does this passage affect the overall plot of the text? Which of the major themes in the text are present here? How does this passage tie into other themes or ideas we’ve seen in some of the other novels we’ve looked at in the course? What else do you notice about this passage? (7-9 marks)

ANSWER ONLY IN COMPLETE SENTENCES AND PUT YOUR ANSWER IN PARAGRAPH FORM

REMEMBER: YOU CANNOT FOCUS ON THE SAME WORK TWICE
(brief allusions to a work you have already discussed are fine, particularly in the passage id section when you are trying to connect the passage to other things we’ve read)

Green Grass, Running Water discussion (2008)

Looking back at Green Grass, Running Water, it is safe to say that it is unlike any book we've read on this course. And yet, it also has some key similarities to the others. How would you describe this book in comparison to the others? What are some of the most significant differences and parallels with the other books? What do you think King's objectives were in writing this novel?

Three Day Road prompt

Choose what you think to be a key scene in Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road and explain why you think this scene is so important in the novel. How does it connect with the rest of the book?

Second Essay topics 2008

1. In many of the novels and stories that we've looked at, characters' lives are affected and even shaped by violence. Focusing on two novels or stories you've not already written about in your previous essay, compare how one character from each text responds to the violence in their lives and what this tells us about each character and the societies in which they live.

2. The tension between the use of English and and of native languages such as Cree is a recurring theme in many of the texts we've looked at so far. Focusing on one novel you have not already looked at in your previous essay, examine the politics of language use in that text. How are the different languages regarded by the characters? What does it mean to them to use one instead of (or in addition to) the other? As part of your essay, you may wish to incorporate quotations or ideas from some of the early articles we read, or from Thomas King's The Truth About Stories. Your essay, though, must focus on one of the novels or short stories.

3. All of the texts we've read so far deal in one way or another with the collision between cultures, between the world view of Natives and that of non-Natives. Focusing on two novels or short stories we've read, examine several key moments in each text that are pivotal to that text's development of this theme. What do these collisions reveal about both sides? Keeping in mind the didactic aims of the works that we've read, what do you think that the authors of each text are hoping that these scenes will demonstrate to the non-Native reader?

DUE DATE: Thursday, April 24th
Essay length: 1500 - 1800 words

Monkey Beach blog prompt

So, now that you've finished reading Monkey Beach, what did you think? Which part(s) of the book did you find most interesting? Any questions about the book you'd like us to cover in class?

You might also want to check out the video of Eden Robinson's reading here last fall.

No blog prompt for this week

Have a great spring break, everyone. There will be no further blog prompts until we start Green Grass, Running Water.

Blog prompt for the week 2/21

What do you think is the most important scene in In Search of April Raintree? Explain in detail why you think this scene is a key to understanding the rest of the novel.

Essay topics for Spring 2008

1. Each of the novels we've looked at so far features a pair of siblings, with one child having a different connection to his or her heritage than the other. Focusing on two of these books, compare and contrast the roles of the sibling relationships paying particular attention to how these relationships connect to the overall themes of the novels.

2. Many of the texts we have read so far involve a tension between the needs and/or behavior of the individual and the demands of the community. This tension is also frequently connected to an apparent disjunction between the modern and traditional way of life for Native peoples.

Choosing one of the texts we have studied in class, examine the presence of this theme, perhaps with regard to a single character or aspect of the plot. What does the text seem to suggest in the end? Can there be a balance between the needs of the individual and the community, between modernity and tradition? What is at risk if such a balance is not achieved?

3. "The truth about stories," Thomas King tells us, "is that's all that we are." Choosing one or two characters from Ravensong and/or Kiss of the Fur Queen, examine the function of stories in the character's/characters' life/lives. How do stories shape the character's/characters' behaviours? Do these stories or how they are looked at by the character(s) change over the course of the novel(s)?

ESSAY LENGTH 1500-1800 words DUE DATE: Tuesday, March 18 (no extensions)
Here's a link to an earlier posting on this blog about how to use MLA style. Even if you don't use any secondary sources, you still need to have a works cited list for your paper.

Blog prompt for this week

You've now had some time to sit with Kiss of the Fur Queen. What are your reactions to the novel? What surprised or struck you most about Highway's novel? Have your thoughts about the book changed as we've spent more time discussing it in class?

How does this novel connect with the other books, stories, and articles we've read so far?

What questions do you have that you'd like us to address in class?

Next week's book is....

HI everyone, I just went by the bookstore and there are ample supplies of Kiss of the Fur Queen. So, unlike what I just told my morning class, we will proceed with our schedule as planned. For the next two weeks, then, we'll be looking at Kiss of the Fur Queen. Definitely aim to have the entire book read by next class.

Lee Maracle's Ravensong

This week we read Lee Maracle's 1993 novel Ravensong. What was your reaction to this novel? What intrigued you most about Ravensong? If you had one question you could ask the author about her work, what would that be?

Of Métis and Salish descent, Lee Maracle is a member of the Stó:lō Nation.

Here are a couple of interesting links to some further information about Lee Maracle:

Profile of Lee Maracle (University of Windsor, 2007)

Storyteller Lives Between Fiction and Myth (University of Guelph news, 1/17/2007)

Lee Maracle (NativeWiki)

Lee Maracle profile (BC Bookworld)

Language crusaders revitalize dying tongues

From the Globe and Mail, January 16, 2008:

For a brief time when he was 6, Chief Robert Joseph's schoolteachers rendered him mute.

If he dared speak Kwak'wala, his only tongue, even to complain of t'sit'saxsisala (sore feet) or t'ixwa ( a cough), the missionaries at St. Michael's Residential School in Alert Bay, B.C., would strike.

And if Mr. Joseph's friends mustered the audacity to ask him yalkawa'mas — did you get hurt? — they risked a smack themselves.

"I certainly saw my share of rulers, straps and cuffs on the ear," Mr. Joseph says in perfect English, the language forced upon him 62 years ago. "You had to pick up English or not communicate at all."

Others students had it worse. One common punishment involved a sewing needle through the tongue.

The last native residential schools closed in 1996, but the silencing of native tongues continues.

Tuesday, Statistics Canada released data showing nearly all of Canada's native languages sliding toward obsolescence as fluent elders die and young aboriginals grow up speaking only English or French.

In new data culled from the 2006 census, 21.5 per cent of aboriginals reported speaking their ancestral tongue fluently, down from 24 per cent in 2001 and 29 per cent in 1996.

Some languages — Haida, Tlingit and Maliseet among them — lost one-third of their mother-tongue speakers over the first half of the 21st century. Others are down to just one fluent speaker.

But there are optimistic storylines tucked within those bleak numbers. Among the country's population of first nations — all aboriginals who are not Inuit or Métis — those who said they can converse in an aboriginal language held steady at 29 per cent between 2001 and 2006. And the number of conversant young aboriginals living on reserves increased 1 per cent.

That reversal, however slight, is due in part to language crusaders working to revitalize dying tongues and even revive dead ones. In small pockets across the country, aboriginal groups are striking up immersion programs, recording fluent elders and uploading phrases to the Web to ensure linguistic posterity.

Here's a link to the full article from the Globe and Mail.

The Truth About Stories Discussion prompt

What did you think about this book? Which one story do you think will stick with you the most? In what ways has this book changed your perspectives about stories and perhaps about Native peoples?

In the news today

In the news today:

Inuit filmmaker Zach Kunuk and his co-producer Norman Cohn grabbed worldwide attention for their film "Atanarjuat" when it won a medal at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, but neither expected the accolades and attention to trickle down to others telling aboriginal stories.
That's why the two have started a new service allowing such filmmakers from around the world to share and show their work on a website that could become the YouTube of aboriginal cinema.
"(We) are an example of how you can actually succeed and find an audience in this world, but we're the only ones who have been able to do that," said Cohn.

The duo's new website, called Isuma.tv, has already gathered 100 films and videos from four countries in the four weeks since it began.

Source: Macleans

This new site is extraordinary and well worth checking out.

Introductions (Spring 2008)

To get us started using our course blog, please click on the "Comments" link immediately below these words and then tell us a little bit about yourself. For privacy reasons, please use only your first name.

Aside from your first name, program and where you're from, what do you like to read? Also, what has drawn you to this course? What do you know about Canada and/or the Native peoples of North America?