pjkx.com: academia: teaching materials: american indian history, literature and culture

"Indian Country Today. Indian Reservations Between Tradition and Modernity"
Seminar Guest Lecture. Oregon State University. April 10, 2010.

Abstract: This presentation provides a visual overview of Indian Reservations in the American Northwest, illustrating the diversity and commonalities of reservation reality. This is a shortened version of "...Where My Dead Lie Buried" (see below).

"A Very, Very Concise History of America"
Seminar: American Indians: An Introduction. Potsdam University, Summer Semester 2008

Abstract: This presentation provides a brief overview of American Indian history.

"Where My Dead Lie Buried. Indian Reservations Between Tradition and Modernity"
W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. February 13, 2007.
Seminar Guest Lecture. Oregon State University. January 8, 2008.

Abstract: This presentation provides a visual overview of Indian Reservations in the American Northwest, illustrating the diversity and commonalities of reservation reality.

"Indian Nation(s). American Indians Between Stereotype and Reality"
Native Cultures in the 21st Century. USA, Canada, Mexico.
6th Annual Students and Graduate Conference. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, May 3-6, 2006.

Abstract: What are American Indians, and how have they been conceptualized by non-Indian culture? This presentation offers some introductory thoughts especially with relation to the nature/civilization dichotomy.

"Indianer in den USA heute (American Indians in the USA Today)"
Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften, Universität Potsdam, June 13, 2009

Zusammenfassung: Die Präsentation gibt einen visuellen Überblick über Indianerreservationen im amerikanischen Nordwesten, wobei Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten der Lebenswirklichkeit auf den Reservation dargestellt werden. (Abstract: This presentation provides a visual overview of Indian Reservations in the American Northwest, illustrating the diversity and commonalities of reservation reality.)

Literary Representations

"The Exiled Native: Questions of Cultural Removal and Translocal American Indian Identity
in Novels by Sherman Alexie and James Welch"
Postcolonial Translocations. 20th Annual GNEL/ASNEL Conference. Münster, May 21-24, 2009

Abstract: How is American Indian identity defined, and how are Indians portrayed by Native authors themselves? How do fictional Indians fare in exile? This presentation looks at how authors like James Welch and Sherman Alexie deal with these issues.

"Exiled on their Own Land: American Indian History in Literature" (with Allison Davis-White Eyes)
Revisiting Indian Nations. Transatlantic and Transcultural Perspectives in Native American History.
Annual Conference of the Historians in the German Association for American Studies. Tutzing, February 6-8, 2009

Abstract: What can Native American literature contribute to the study of history? We will look at authors like Sherman Alexie, Janet Campbell Hale, Simon Ortiz, James Welch and Gerald Vizenor.

"Are You Now, Or Have You Ever Been, An Indian?
Reflections on (Native) American Identity in Sherman Alexie's Writings"
Post-Graduate Forum of the German Association for American Studies, Münster, Oct 31-Nov 2, 2008

Abstract: This presentation reflects upon how American Indian identity is defined and discussed in selected works by Sherman Alexie.

"The French Lakota: James Welch's The Heartsong of Charging Elk as a Cosmopolitan Text"
The Cosmopolitan Subaltern. Marginalized Literatures and Cultures in a Globalizing World.
8th Annual Students and Graduate Conference. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, June 4-7, 2008

Abstract: James Welch's The Heartsong of Charging Elk tells the story of a Lakota in France. This opens up discussions of subalternity, cosmopolitanism and identity.

Teaching Materials

Topic: American Indian History, Literature and Culture

Overviews of History and Current Issues

Literary Representations