Above is a picture of a Powhatan longhouse. A picture of a Powhatan wigwam is below.
Good evening :)
Today we finished our segment on Native American literature with my former student Cassandra Perry's Prezi on Native Americans in our area and a brief discussion of Raven and Rabbit's tales.
Here is a link to Cassandra's Prezi:
The link to the film of "Raven Steals the Light" is here:
For Wednesday, we will move on to travel narratives by Christopher Columbus (78-86) and Cabeza de Vega (87-99). Note that these narratives are translations.
Here are questions for your journal:
-- What did you learn from Cassandra's presentation? What does her information about local Native Americans add to your understanding of Native American literature and culture? of our area? of the United States?
-- Which topics are you considering for your first presentation? Would you like to work with someone else in the class? Would you want to try Prezi?
-- A number of us mentioned that we were descended from Native Americans. How might this knowledge affect our understanding of Native American literature? of ourselves? of America?
-- Many literature anthologies also bring in readings from history or other disciplines as well as pictures of artworks and performances. Ought our anthology include videos of the Piscataway performances? Or of a tour of the museum in Waldorf?
-- Here are some links to information about the Haida totem poles. http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/
How does this information help you understand Raven's world more fully? Or the culture of the people who told "Raven Steals the Light"?
-- Ought American literature include readings from Canada or Mexico? Why? Why not?
-- What did you know about Christopher Columbus?
-- How do travel narratives or narratives of exploration fit into literature? How do they not fit?
-- How would a historian read these narratives? How would a literary scholar read them?
-- Discuss Columbus and de Vega's attitudes towards the Native peoples.
-- Discuss Columbus and de Vega's attitudes towards America.
-- Why did these men come to America?
-- Now that you've read Columbus' letters, argue for or against him. Can we judge him by our standards today? Why? Why not?
-- How is de Vega different from Columbus? How are the two men similar?
-- Charles C. Mann has written on the effects of Western excursions to other parts of the globe. How does he help us to understand their consequences?
I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say!
Dr. Szlyk
p.s. Above is a picture of a Haida "Raven" totem pole.
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