ENG 730 Indigenous Literature of NA: Queer, Two-Spirit, & Trans- Indigenous Writings Fall 2020: Wednesday 11:30am-1:30pm, emergency remote classroom Dr. Kaitlin Debicki [email protected] Office hours: by appointment only Course Description: As the stories, writings, and literatures of Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island span centuries, vast geographic areas, and hundreds of unique nations, this will be a special topics course focusing on contemporary, Indigenous queer, two-spirit, and trans writings. It has been well established in the field of Indigenous literatures and Indigenous studies more broadly that uplifting, liberating, and centering Indigenous queer/two-spirit/trans folx is fundamental to any effort for decolonization. This course takes this fact as its basis as it moves through the current outpouring of poetry, nonfiction, fiction, short stories, memoire, and theory of young, queer Indigenous scholars, artists, writers, storytellers, and activists. This course takes an intersectional, decolonizing approach toward settler gender/sexuality; students will consider thematic and transnational contexts to explore multiple intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, Indigeneity, and settler colonialism. Most importantly, we will also explore how Indigenous two-spirit/queer/trans writings open space for imagining and realizing futures free from enduring forms of colonial violence – futures of radical resurgence, Indigenous sovereignty, and decolonial love. Required Readings: Joshua Whitehead. Johnny Appleseed. Billy-Ray Belcourt. NDN Coping Mechanisms. Lindsay Nixon. nîtisânak. Additional readings will be made available online or through A2L. Evaluation: Participation & Engagement 15% As this is a remote class that will use Microsoft Teams, I recognize that participation and engagement will look a bit different. Keeping this in mind, your participation mark will be determined not only by your presence and engagement during seminar (e.g., asking questions, active listening, taking notes, offering personal insights, sending links to further information) but also by contributions made to our class blog and by use of the Mentimeter app during seminar. In an effort to encourage digital community, I would ask that you contribute to the class blog at least 3 times over the course of the semester. Contributions can range from questions about the readings, to personal reflections about doing graduate school during a pandemic, to a poem or piece of art that you’re working on, to sharing news articles or other links that connect to course material and discussion. Occasionally in seminar I will ask questions via the Mentimeter app and request your anonymous engagement via www.menti.com. Reading Notes 15% Students will submit 10 sets of notes on individual assigned readings. Notes can be submitted on any of the assigned readings except for those students use in their discussion starters. You may include up to two readings from the same week. They must be submitted before class on the day for which the reading is assigned. Notes should be one page long (250–300 words) and consist of the following three sections: 1. List of key concepts/terms (e.g. “two-spirit,” “homonationalism,” “erotic sovereignty,” “NDN”) 2. Summary statement (four sentences maximum) of the author’s main argument. This statement should be written in your own words, relying on quotation as little as possible. 3. Two or three issues or questions raised by the reading, in connection with the themes of (and/or other readings from) the course. These notes should be focused on understanding the readings rather than criticizing them; critique may follow our discussion once we have arrived at a general understanding of the argument(s). Assessment: Notes are largely assessed according to completion, rather than scrutinized for varying quality. Notes turned in on time and that are sound (coherent, generally accurate in their summary, posing relevant questions) will receive full credit; notes that do not meet this standard will receive no credit. If I find a set of notes to be below standard, I will return them and give you the opportunity to redo them. Each individual set of notes is worth 1.5% of your final grade for the course. Once you have received credit for your notes on a particular reading, you have the option of uploading it to our class blog. You may share all, some, or none of your notes—it is entirely up to you. Your decision to make them available to the class has no bearing on your grade for this assignment. Discussion Starters 20% I will designate two members of the class as “discussion starters” for each class meeting. Once during the semester, you will write a response to the week’s reading (around three double-spaced pages in length), which you will then present – not read! – in class. Your response paper might take the form of a close reading of a passage or scene from one of our primary texts; a close engagement with one of our secondary texts; or a meditation on the broader issues raised by the week’s reading. After you have completed your response, you will email it to the other discussion starter, who will also email you theirs. Read your partner’s work, and formulate a response that includes a brief comment (no more than two or three sentences) outlining what you found most productive about your partner’s reflection paper, and one question (in which you invite them to flesh out, qualify, or further clarify their thinking). In seminar, each discussion starter will: present their response paper; respond to the other discussion starter’s presentation; and ask one or two questions of the class (using your partner’s paper as a jumping off point.) The in-class portion of this assignment is worth 10% of your overall final mark: 5% for your presentation of your own work, and 5% for the care and skill that you demonstrate in responding to your partner’s work. The other 10% will be for the response paper itself. Note: please post your response paper to A2L by noon the day preceding the seminar that you have been assigned. Editing a Partner’s Paper 10% A draft of your final paper is due November 25th; you will email your draft to a partner in the class who will email you their essay in return. Please read through and provide editorial remarks within the body of your partner’s essay (including, for example: grammar, spelling, thesis, writing clarity, citations, supporting arguments, and analysis). Please return an edited version of your partner’s paper to them by no later than Tuesday December 1st. During seminar on Wednesday December 2nd, you and your partner will go into a breakout room to discuss the edits you have made and how you might or might not take up the editorial suggestions of your partner. Please submit a copy of your essay draft with your partner’s editorial comments to me by the end of seminar. Final Paper Complete 40% The final essay should be around 15-18 double-spaced pages and submitted by December 16th. Evidence of editing will be rewarded. The paper may be on a topic of your own devising. If you wish to write on a work outside of assigned course material, please check with me first. In keeping with Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies, the type of research you do and the format of the final paper may move outside the bounds of conventional, western academia. Consider for example the role of personal stories in crafting a scholarly essay, the interweaving of personal poetry with literary criticism, researching through conversation, visiting, or dreams, and decolonizing language use. Further guidance will be provided in class. Important Notes: Accessibility Statement: We may all need some form of accommodation in this class because we all learn differently, and we are all subject to emergencies of various kinds and degree. Your ability to engage and participate fully in this course is important to me. If there are circumstances that may affect your ability to meet certain requirements as assigned in the course and/or if you have had specific accommodations approved by Student Accessibility Services, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can work together to develop strategies for adapting assignments to meet both your needs and the requirements of the course. Whether or not you have a documented disability, resources exist on campus to support your learning; please let me know how I can help direct you to them. Covid-19 & The Emergency Remote Classroom: The pandemic has hit us all in varying ways. I recognize that covid-19 may be causing undue hardship for many of us in ways that may be visible or invisible. I want you to know that I am here to support you in whatever ways that I am able. Part of the difficulty of this moment in history is that we will be learning together how to do graduate work virtually. I hope we can develop and maintain open communication around our needs in order to mitigate the negative impact of these changes. If the technology used for this class pose any barriers to your education – for example, if you have unstable internet, or limited access to a computer – I would ask you to please let me know and we will make alternate arrangements. Schedule of Readings: Wednesday September 9th - Introductions - Vowel, C. (2016). Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada. Winnipeg: Highwater Press. Chapter 12 ‘All My Queer Relations: Language, Culture, and Two-Spirit Identity’ - Lisa Tatonetti. “Introduction.” In The Queerness of Native American Literature. U Minnesota P, 2014. Wednesday September 16th - Leanne Simpson. “Indigenous Queer Normativity.” In As We Have Always Done. 119- 144. - Billy-Ray Belcourt and Lindsey Nixon.