canadian native literature

1. HISTORY OF NATIVE CANADIAN
LITERATURE
Presented by,
Sruthy S. Kumar
S1MPhil English.

2. “Knowledge of our past and present
existence is enfolded in our oral tradition”.
Mi’kmac scholar Marie Battiste

3.  Canadian literature begins before written text existed:
with the oral stories of Canada’s First peoples.
 The spoken stories of Canada’s First People’s, handed
on from generation to generation are called “oral
literature” or “orature”.
 My Breath, Magic Words, Dead Man’s Song, Medicine
Song, A Prayer Before Whaling.

4. To Heal Wounds
You, like a ringed plover,
You, like a wild duck,
The Skin’s surface here,
Full of wounds,
Full of cuts,
Go and patch it!

6.  These narratives exist today in spoken and written form, with
competing accounts from different Indigenous groups. These
oral traditions also greatly influence Aboriginal literature
written in English today.
 Colonial allegories and narratives of adventure and conquest
eventually overlayered and re-interpreted Indigenous stories.
 But while Canada was partly formed, Indigenous cultures and
narratives continued to survive and grow with their own
notions of belonging and place.
 After Confederation,while the story of the unified nation state
continued, marginalised and oppositional voices were
increasingly heard.

7.  Increasingly strong ethnic and minority groups reshaped
Canada, and the old colonial notion of uniformity or
homogeneity gave way to modern ideas of hetrogeneity or
diversity.
 New narratives emerged among ethnically diverse groups, re-
claiming and re-writing the stories of Canada.

8.  Thayendanegea was a Mohawk military and political leader.
 For nearly a decade, he acted as an interpreter in the British
Indian Department, he also aided missionaries in
teaching Christianity to the Aboriginal people, and helped
translate religious materials into Mohawk.
 Beginning in 1783 and through the mid-1790s Brant worked to
form a united confederation of Iroquois and western Aboriginal
peoples.
 Letters
 Condolence speeches.

9.  Kahgegagahbowh; lecturer, author and a translator.
 He helped to translate into Ojibwa the Acts of the Apostles and
the Gospel of St Luke.
 Between 1847 and 1851 he published 3 books: his
autobiography, a history of the Ojibwa and an account of his
European travels in 1850.
 The Life, History, and Travels of Kah-ge-gah-bowh(1847). It
was the first book in English written by a Canadian Native
person.
 The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the
Ojibway Nation(1850)
 Running Sketches of Men and Places in England, France,
Germany, Belgium and Scotland(1851)

10. “Literary Coterie”
 Peter Jones.
 George Henry
 Peter Jacobs
 John Sunday
 Allen Salt
 Henry Steinhauer

11.  Poet, writer, entertainer(recitalist).
 During her career Pauline Johnson adopted her grandfather's
aboriginal name, Tekahionwake, meaning "double wampum”.
“ Was not my Indian name good enough? Do you think
you help us by bidding us to forget our blood? By teaching us
to cast off all memory of our high ideals and our glorious past?
I am an Indian. My pen and my life I devote to the memory of
my own people.”
 Pauline Johnson is best known for her poetry celebrating her
aboriginal heritage, such as The Song My Paddle Sings. Her
poetry covers a range of subjects but focuses on the patriotic
or pastoral ‘Indian’.
 Shadow River, The Corn Husker

12.  Although her stories portrayed aboriginal women and children
in idealistic settings, her depictions of aboriginal people were
more realistic than those written by her contemporaries. Much
of Pauline Johnson's writing might be seen as an early
expression of nationalism .
 Her first collection of poems, White Wampum, was published in
1895, followed by Canadian Born (1903) and Flint and
Feather (1912).
 Johnson published Legends of Vancouver (1911), a series of
tales and short stories told to her by Joe Capilano, a
Squamish chief.
 Two books of short stories were published in 1913 after her
death, The Shagganappi and The Moccasin Maker.

13.  John Brant Sero (1867-1914 ; Mohwak)
 Mary Augusta Tappage (1888- 1942 ; Shuswap)
 Martin Martin (1889- 1940 ; Inuit)
 Alma Greene (1896- 1984 ; Mohawk)
 Susan Martin (1897- 1973; Inuit)
 Harry Robinson (1900- 1990 ; Okanagan)
 Marion Tuu’luq (1910- 1994 ; Inuit)
 Simon Arnaviapik (1915- 1980 ; Inuit)
 Alexander Wolfe (1927- ; Saulteaux)
 Basil H. Jonson (1929- 1990 ; Ojibway)
 Lydia Campbell’s (Inuk) Sketches of Labrador Life(1894) ,was
an exception to the general tendency for women to write poetry
rather than book length histories, travelogues.

14.  The 1960-s became a period of extraordinary growth and
renewal for Indigenous literature in Canada partly because of
changing conditions which made it easier for authors to get into
print
 Saw the launching of many newspapers and periodicals.
 Non-literary formats were very important in this period,
including biographical, autobiographical and other modes of
reflective writing, such as Wilfred Pelletier’s(1927-2000) Two
Articles.
 Cree Chief Payepot’s Paypote and His People(serial
publication 1957) and Kwakwaka’wakw Charles James
Nowell’s Smoke from Their Fires: The Life of a Kwakuilt
Chief(1961)

15.  Textualised orature include Ojibway Norval Morriseau’s
Legends of My People, the Great Ojibway(1965) and
Nuuchah’nulth George Clutesi’s Son of Raven, Son of
Deer(1967) .
 The first anthology of Aboriginal literature in English
appeared in 1969, called I am an Indian(ed. by Kent
Gooderham).
 Many Voices: Contemporary Indian Poetry(ed. by David Day
and Marylin Bowering, 1977)
 First People, First Voices(ed. by Penny Petrone, 1983)
 A Gathering of Spirit: A Collection by North American Indian
Women(ed. by Beth Brant, 1984)
 All My Relations:An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian
Native Writing(ed. by Thomas King, 1990)

16.  Indigenous readers became a focus in the late 1960s and 70s as
more and more First Peoples called for autonomy in education
and the provision of reading materials on the reservations, in
properly funded and stocked libraries.
 One of the earliest Indigenous organised and maintained
libraries was that of Dene National Library in Yellowknife.
 Thus improvements to Aboriginal education was brought by
the shifting of a parochial system.
 Whereby instead of a narrow set of mainly white Canadian
pedagogic materials, a need – driven system was introduced.
 So that they could select educational tools that worked for their
local communities-fostering literacy in Aboriginal languages
,encouraging literary expressions, adapting traditional oral
languages to written forms.

17.  Poet.
 First collection of poetry, titled The Poems of Rita Joe, was
published in 1978.(26 untitled poems and some with micmac
translation).
 Today’s Learning Child, I Lost My Talk, Micmac
Hieroglyphics.
 Lnu and Indians We're Called(1991)
 Rita Joe's poetry is included in the 1994 anthology Kelusultiek:
Original Women's Voices of Atlantic Canada. Kelusultiek,
which takes its title from a poem by Rita Joe and translates as
"we speak," also includes the lyrics and music to two of her
best known songs: "The Drumbeat Is the Heartbeat of the
Nation" and "Oka Song."

18.  Her poems cover a wide range of subjects, from the domestic
to the spiritual. Her language is blunt but lyrical, and she
captures both the anguish and elation of life
 Her memoir, Song of Rita Joe: Autobiography of a Mi'kmaq
Poet, was published in 1996. She relates both the terrible
difficulties and the amazing accomplishments of her life in
unassuming but compelling prose. Her autobiography also
includes poetry, music, and photographs .

19. I lost my talk
The talk you took away.
When I was a little girl
At Shubenacadie school.
You snatched it away;
I speak like you
I think like you
I create like you
The scrambled ballad, about my word.
Two ways I talk
Both ways I say,
Your way is more powerful.
So gently I offer my hand and ask ,
Let me find my talk
So I can teach about me.

20.  Poet, journalist, activist, businessman, actor and administrator,
best known as a key figure in the development of First
Nations literature in Canada.
 He began writing as a way to deal with the anti-aboriginal
racism he faced in schools.
 His published poetry collections include I Am Canadian (1978)
and Loveshine and Red Wine (1981). was editor of a native
newspaper called The Thunderbird,] and was an active
organizer of protests and a speaker on native rights issues.
 We are Metis was yet another step. Written as an
interdisciplinary thesis at York University, it is a part of the
recent renaissance of the Metis, asserting themselves as a
nation within Native culture in Canada.

21.  Campbell describes herself as a storyteller, though she is the
writer of four books and co-author of a play.
 Halfbreed(1973) was her first publication, an autobiography
that also describes the situation of the contemporary Metis. It
describes her life from a happy childhood in Saskatchewan into
a young adulthood of drugs and prostitution in Vancouver, then
back to the Prairies, where she began writing became actively
involved in many Native organisations.
 Little Badger and the Fire Spirit(1977)
 Riel’s People(1978)
 People of the Buffalo(1989)

22. • These novels depicts the physical and spiritual aspects of
traditional life of Prairies.
• Campbell wished to preserve the elements of their heritage for
Metis children.
 The Book of Jessica(1989) includes the play she co-authored
with Linda Griffiths and documents the difficulties of cross-
cultural projects.

23.  Maria Annheart Baker published her first book of poetry, Being
On the Moon(1942).
 The poems illustrate her concern with “the smallest of stories;
stories in our everyday conversation, stories of how we
survived and resisted, and ofcourse the ‘lost stories’”.
 Baker’s broad interest include the writings of Women of Colour
and the forms of street poetry, dub poetry and rap.
 Coyote Trial
 Penumbra
 Moon Bear
 Pretty Tough Skin Woman.

24.  Is a Nipissing First Nation author and poet and member of
Nipissing First Nation.
 His work is characterized by his enigmatic and unique
spelling, for instance, "nd" instead of "and”.
 First collection of poetry was Sweetgrass(1972), a modern
anthology of Indian Poetry. Collection of poetry written by
three members of the Keon family. Orville Keon and two sons
Wayne Keon and Ronald Keone.
 Thunderbirds of the Ottawa, his first novel published in 1977.

25.  Fictional account of a Canadian of native descent with
a contemporary historical setting in the Ottawa Valley
region.
 Contributor to various periodicals like Canadian
Forum, Queen’s Quarterly, Malahat Review.
 Last collection of poetry Sweetgrass 2.

26.  Native Canadian author, educator, artist, and activist.
 Armstrong’s 1985 work Slash is considered the first novel by
a First Nations woman in Canada.
 Slash explores the history of the North American Indian protest
movement through the critical perspective of central character
Tommy Kelasket, who is eventually renamed Slash. Tommy
has encountered intolerance in an assimilationist school system
and racist North American society, but his family encourages
him to be proud of his Okanagan heritage. He becomes an
activist for Aboriginal rights.
 The text provides a personalized account of the origins and
growth of Native activism since the 1960s .

27.  Armstrong published two children's books in the early
1980s, Enwhisteetkwa (or Walk in Water) in 1982
and Neekna and Chemai in the following year.
 In addition, Armstrong has published critical works,
such as The Native Creative Process(1989).
 “ This is a Story,” in All My Relations: An Anthology
of Contemporary Canadian Native Fiction(1990).
• Whispering in Shadows(2002)
• A History Lesson, Breath Tracks, Trickster Time

28.  Is most notable for her novel In Search of April
Raintree(1983), was reissued in 1984 as April Raintree. Based
largely on her own life experiences, it was welcomed by the
Native community as part of its healing process.
 The story included traumatic incidents from her own family
life, including the suicide of two of her sisters and her own
experience of being raped.
 Her children’s novel Spirit of the White Bison(1985) examines
the colonizing of the plains.
• Culleton’s second novel, published in 2000, is titled In a
Shadow of Evil. It is set in the Canadian Rockies, and follows
the life of a young girl going through family trauma and foster
care.

29.  Orator, essayist, poet, critic and writer of both long and short
prose fictions; an influential aboriginal voice in post colonial
criticism.
 Her writing is an innovative fusion of poetry,fiction,non-
fiction,myth and memoire that revives traditional aboriginal
stories to frame her modern tales. Her primary focus is in the
context of North American Feminism, an approach she has
described as “decolonizing in the feminine”.
 With this feminine approach of viewing the world, Maracle
addresses the issue of racism, post colonialism, female
sexuality, creative empowerment and racial solitude.

30.  Her first novel is Bobbie Lee: Indian Rebel(1975); was one of
the first aboriginal work to be published in Canada.
 Sojourner’s Truth(1990)
 Sundog: A Novel(1992)
 Ravensong: A Novel(1993)
 My Home as I Remember(2000)
 Daughters are Forever(2002)
 First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style(2010)
 I am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and
Feminism(1996)

31.  Anthony Apakark Thrasher(1937-1989; Inuit)
 Richard Greene(1940- ;Mohawk)
 Beth Brant(1941- ;Mohawk)
 Buffy St Marie(1941- ;Cree)
 Emma Lee Warrior(1941- ; Peigan)
 Ron Geyshick(1942- ; Ojibway)
 Harold Cardinal(1945- ; Cree)
 John Mcleod(1949- ; Ojibway)
 Lenore Keeshig Tobias(1950- ;Ojibway)
 Alootook Ipellie(1951- ; Inuit)

32. • Novelist, presenter, activist, academician.
• His notable works include A Coyote Columbus Story (1992)
and Green Grass, Running Water (1993) – both of which were
nominated for a Governor General's Award – and The
Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in
North America (2012), which won the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize.
• First novel was Medicine River(1990), was the runner up for
the 1991 Commonwealth Writers Prize.
• King's writing style incorporates oral storytelling structures
with traditional Western narrative. He writes in a
conversational tone.

33.  King uses a variety of anecdotes and humorous narratives
while maintaining a serious message in a way that has been
compared to the style of trickster legends in Native American
culture.
 Native humour is one of the central elements of his
writing,along with the re-telling of historical events from
alternative perspectives.
 Dreadful Water Shows Up(2002).
 Coyote Sings to the Moon(2004).
 The Natives in Literature(1987); a collection of critical essays.

34.  Indigenous theatre in Canada has become a significant force in
the nations cultural repertoire over the past twenty five years,
capturing the attention of both local audiences and the
international performing arts market.
 Not only has there been a rapid expansion in the number and
variety of performance works created by Canada’s First
Peoples since the mid 1980-s but also a concerted attempt to
develop industry structures ,that has ensured the continued
visibility of Indigenous artists in theatre across the nation.
 Aboriginal themes animated a small number of non-indigenous
dramas, in which aboriginal characters were generally played
by white actors.

35.  George Ryga’s widely acclaimed dramatisation of urban Native
life in The Ecstacy of Rita Joe follows this pattern.
 By the late 1970-s ,plays penned by Aboriginals themselves
came out, which include Nona Benedict’s The Dress(1970)
and George Kenny’s October Stranger(1977).
 Duke Redbird’s Wasawkachak(1974)
 Minnie Aodla Freeman’s Survival in the South(1980)
 Maria Campbell’s Jessica(1986).
 Monique Mojica’s Princess Pocahontas and the Blue
Spots(1991).

36.  Playwright, novelist and children's author.
 He was one of the first aboriginal writer to be included as a
member in the Order of Canada in 1994.
 Early plays were The Sage, The Dancer and the Fool(1984).
 A Ridiculous Spectacle in One Act(1985).
 New Song New Dance(1986).
 Annie and the Old One(1988)
 His early plays dramatises the beauty, durability and optimism
of Aboriginal cultures.
 Two best known works are The Rez Sister’s(1986) and Dry
Lips Oughta More to Kapuskasing(1989).

37.  The Rez Sisters focuses on the dreams of seven female
characters and Dry Lips feature seven males struggling with
various pre-occupations.
 Two novels are set in fictional reserve of Wasaychigan Hill in
Ontario.
 Autobiographical novel is Kiss of the Fur Queen(1998)
 Aside from numerous plays and novel, Highway has written
three children’s books and some critical essays like Comparing
Mythologies(2003), which explores how Canadian culture is
defined by a fusion of Aboriginal and Western mythologies.
 In , he republished Rez Sisters and Dry Lips in Cree.
 Recent work is The (Post) Mistress(2013).

38.  Playwright and poet.
 Dissatisfied with the tragic nature of many depictions of native
people, he portrays instead an organic, living culture in his
plays.
 His city plays, Coyote City (1988), Big Buck City (1991)
and Kyotopolis (1992), which follow the adventures of an ever-
expanding circle of characters, dramatizes the processes
through which native people can begin to heal their wounds.

39.  He has also written two books of poetry, Delicate
Bodies (1980) and The White Line (1990), and co-edited An
Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English (1992).
 The Indian Medicine Shows: Two One-Act Plays was published
in 1995.

40.  Margo Kane(1951- ; Cree)
 Ruby Slipperjack(1952- ; Ojibway)
 Monique Mojica(1954- ; Kuna)
 Armand Garnet Ruffo(1955- ;0jibway)
 Thom E. Hawke(1959- ; Inuit)
 Drew Hayden Taylor(1962- ; Ojibway)
 James Tyman(1964- ; Metis)
 Jordan Wheeler(1964- ; Cree)

41.  Ruby Slipperjack’s Honour the Sun(1990),Silent
Words(1992),Weesquachak and the Lost Ones(2000).
 Jordan Wheeler’s Brother’s in Arms(1989)
 Joan Crate’s Breathing Water(1990)
 Richard Wagamese’s Keeper ‘n Me(1994)
 Richard van Camp’s The Lesser Blood(1996)
 Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach(2000) and
Traplines(1996) .
 Beth Brant Mohwak Trail(1995).
 Richard g. Greene’s The Last Raven (1994)

42.  Indigenous novels and short-story collections continue
to grow in popularity and strength.
 Critic Penny van Toorn suggests that “Today,
Indigenous publishing is beginning to go global”.
 Lee Maracle’s Daughters are forever(2002) and Will’s
Garden(2002).
 Richard van Camp’s Angel Wing Splash Pattern(2002)
 Robert Alexie’s Porcupines and China Dolls(2002) and
Pale Indian(2005)
 Richard Wagamese’s A Quality of Light(2002), Dream
Wheels(2006) and Ragged Company(2008).

43.  Indigenous authors have always drawn deeply upon
multiple genres, especially via oral modes of cultural story
telling, and such multimedia intertextuality and versioning
of aboriginal literature continues to be a noticeable feature
in this globalised world of literature.

44.  A new wave of Aboriginal literature building upon nineteenth
century precursors, as well as the new Indigenous politics of
autonomy in the 1960s and 70s, has lead to exciting new
development of novels, short stories, poems and plays from a
wide range of Indigenous authors.
 Early political writing in the 1960s and 70s based on
journalistic discourses has developed in highly performative
ways, revealing how indigenous writing draws strength from
its hybridity and integral relationship with oral culture.

45.  Canada’s First People have partly survived the impact of
colonialism and are in the process of recovering and rebuilding
artistic and social forms.
 Shifts in educational practices, and a move towards cultural
autonomy, have contributed to the explosive growth of
Aboriginal literature in the late twentieth and early twenty-first
centuries, even then the Indian Act is still a barrier to self-
governance and cultural recovery

46.  Akiwenzie-Damm, Kateri and Josie Douglas, eds. skins:
contemporary Indigenous writing. Wiarton: Kegedonce Press
and Alice Springs: Jukurrpa Books, 2000.
 Allen, Paula Gunn. Off the Reservation: Reflections on
Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing Loose Canons. Boston:
Beacon Press, 1998.
 An Anthology of Canadian native literature in English. Ed.
Daniel David Moses and Terry Goldie. 2d Ed. Toronto: U
niversity of Toronto Press, 1998.
 Ahenakew, Edward. Voices of the Plains Cree. ed. Ruth M.
Buck. Toronto UP,1994.

47.  Brask, Per and William Morgan, eds. Aboriginal Voices:
Amerindian, Inuit, and Sami Theater. Baltimore: The John
Hopkins University Press, 1992.
• Dickason, Olive Patricia. Canada’s First Nations: A History of
Founding Peoples from Earliest Times. Toronto: McClelland &
Stewart, 1992.
• Contemporary American Indian writing: unsettling
literature. Ed. Dee Alyson Horne. New York: Peter
Lang, 1999.
• Fox Roman, Trish, ed. Voices Under One Sky:
Contemporary Native Literature.Reflections in Fiction and
Non-Fiction. Scarborough Ontario, Nelson Canada, 1994.
• Gedalof, Robin, ed. Paper Stays Put: A Collection of Inuit
Writing. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1980.
• Gloade, Harold. From My Vantage Point. Ottawa: Borealis
Press, 1991

48.  Ipellie, Alootook. Arctic Dreams and Nightmares. Penticton:
Theytus Books, 1993.
 Joe, Rita. Poems of Rita Joe. Halifax, NS: Abanaki Press, 1978
 Jaine, Linda and Drew Taylor. Voices: Being Native in
Canada. Saskatoon,Saskatchewan: University Extension Press,
1995.
 King, Thomas, Cheryl Calver and Helen Hoy, eds. The
Native in Literature: Canadian and Comparative
Perspectives. Toronto: ECW press,1989.
• LaRocque, Emma. “Preface or Here Are Our Voices - Who
Will Hear?” Writing theCircle: Native Women of Western
Canada. Ed. Jeanne Perreault and Sylvia Vance.Edmonton:
NeWest Publishers Limited, 1990.

49. • Lutz, Hartmut. Contemporary Challenges:Conversations with
Canadian Native Authors.Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Fifth
House Publishers, 1991.
• McGee, H.F. The Native Peoples of Atlantic Canada, a History
of Indian-European Relations. Carleton University Press,
1983.
• Moses, Daniel David and Terry Goldie, eds. An Anthology
of Canadian Native Literature in English. Toronto: Oxford
University Press, 1998.
• New, W.H., ed. Native Writers and Canadian Writings
(Canadian Literature, Special Issue). Vancouver:
University of BritishColumbia Press, 1990.
• Petrone, Penny, ed. Northern Voices: Inuit Writing in
English. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988.

50.  Ruffo, Armand Garnet. “Out of Silence - The Legacy of E.
Pauline Johnson: An Inquiry into the Lost and Found Work of
Dawendine - Bernice Loft Winslow.” Literary Pluralities,ed.
Christl Verduyn. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1998.
 Steckley, John L. and Bryan D. Cummins. Full Circle:
Canada’s First Nations. Toronto:Prentice Hall, 2001.
 Youngblood Henderson, James (Sakej). The Mikmaw
Concordat. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 1997.
 Young-Ing, Greg. “Talking Terminology: What’s in a Word and
What’s Not” Prairie Fire,22.3 (Autumn 2001) .