Indigenous Literature Books

 So, this is the last book pile that I am blogging. I read a handful of books about Indigenous literature. I was not trying to veer into literary studies. I get kind of lost inside of literary studies because postmodernism is like its own little universe. There is no beginning and no end, just infinite concepts. Anyhow, in spite of trying not to veer into literary studies, I did want to revisit some old favourites and so I re-read them. And there were two new books that came out which I could not resist. 

The first book that I re-read was Iskwewak Kah' Ki Yaw Ni Wahkomamkanak: Neither Indian Princess nor Easy Squaws, second edition, by the late Dr. Janice Acoose-Miswonigeesikokwe. It was her masters thesis. The first edition was published in 1995 and the second edition was published in 2016. It stands the test of time. The first time that I read it, I don't think I realized how significant it was. I used a few quotes from it. More than anything, though, I feel like the book reinvigorated my commitment to the idea that Indigenous literature is important, not only in terms of pedagogy, but also in terms of shaping the political landscape of our society. And so I celebrate Acoose. 

The second book that I re-read was Taking Back Our Spirits: Indigenous Literature, Public Policy, and Healing by the late Jo-Ann Episkenew (2009). This one is also a rallying cry to recognize the significance and transformative potential of Indigenous literature. Specifically, she says that Indigenous literature plays a socio-pedagogical function (p.110) which is critical in addressing colonial creation myths (p.109). When I read her work, I feel invigorated. I also like that her work builds on Acoose. For example, they both discuss Maria Campbell's Halfbreed. And then Episkenew goes on to discuss newer texts like Richard Wagamese's Keeper N Me. 

One of the new books that I read and enjoyed was Self-Determining Stories: The Indigenous Reinvention of Young Adult Literature by Mandy Suhr-Sytsma. It's cool that there is so much Indigenous Young Adult literature that one can write an entire book about it. The book is published by Michigan State and I think the author's work and education is in the states, but she discusses many books by Indigenous people from Canada, including Jeanette Armstrong and Drew Hayden Taylor. 

Another new book that I read and enjoyed was Tiffany Lethbo King, Jenell Navarro, and Andrea Smith's anthology Otherwise Worlds: Against Settler Colonialism and Anti-Blackness. Just so people know... I read the book before the New York Times article was published, and I want to take a minute here to say that I do not support identity fraud. In the future, I will be more discriminating about purchasing Andrea Smith's work. That being said, she was not the only person who worked on this project, and I would never want to punish the co-editors or contributors for her wrongs. With that caveat in mind, I did find the introduction to be extremely helpful in understanding how Black and Indigenous people can support each other's efforts to achieve justice, even if it may appear that they do not have identical goals in mind. Within the book, the chapter which made the biggest impression on me was Lindsay Nixon's Visual Cultures of Indigenous Futurism. Lindsay Nixon also wrote a memoir (and you can find their book here). Visual Cultures of Indigenous Futurism is an essay which outlines some foundational concepts around the future imaginary and discusses artwork within that genre.