Resource Author
RelyeaResource Description
Group Project Assignment
E314V/AMS 315: Native American Literature and Culture
Fall 2006 Group Projects
Jodi Relyea
Listed below are the Group Presentation Topics for this semester. I’ve included with each topic some suggested areas of research, but you are encouraged to explore any other subjects that are related to your group’s topic. Your job with these presentations is to inform your classmates about your specific areas of research. Consider the ways you can keep your audience – your classmates – interested and informed.
Your group is responsible for the following: you must provide a handout for the class. The things that you should include on your handout will vary from group to group – you may choose to include a map, an outline, pictures, artwork, poems or lyrics, suggested films or readings, etc. Your group is responsible for meeting and organizing your work. While I may provide you a small amount of class time to discuss your plans, it is your responsibility to communicate outside of the classroom about your projects. Your presentations should be anywhere from 15-30 minutes long (this time frame is flexible – it may depend on how many group members your group has – but presentations should be no longer than 30 minutes).
Your individual responsibilities are the following: produce a 4-6 page research paper on your specific topic. You must also turn in a Works Cited page documenting all of your sources. Use MLA format for your written work.
Each student will be graded individually.
Group One: Powwows and Ceremonies; Presents on Tuesday, September 26
Various dances: grass, gourd, owl, sun, stomp, Ghost
Various ceremonies: naming, Yuwipi, sweat, peyote, vision quests, Kinaalda, the Nightchant
Chants and songs
Federal Legislation regarding Native religious ceremonies
Local and national powwow information
History of powwows
Group Two: Native Education; Presents on Tuesday, October 3
Boarding Schools
Richard Henry Pratt and Carlisle Indian School
Luther Standing Bear
The Cherokee Female Seminary
Tribal Colleges
Clinton’s “Executive Order on American Indian and Alaskan Native education
Diné College
Group Three: Legislation, Treaties, and Tribal Sovereignty; Presents on Tuesday, October 10
The Dawes Act/General Allotment Act
Indian Removal Act
Tribal vs. state authority (ex. debates over gaming)
Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock (1903)
United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians (1980)
Cobell v. Norton (begun in 1996)
Indian Land Tenure Foundation
Yucca Mountain Nuclear Storage Facility
Group Four: Ecology and Native Land Rights; Presents on Tuesday, October 17
Uranium Mining and Black Mesa
Makah Whaling
Hydro-Quebec
CERT – The Council of Energy Resource Tribes
Environmental activist Winona LaDuke
Tellico Dam
Group Five: Activism and The American Indian Movement (AIM); Presents on Tuesday, October 24
The American Indian Chicago Conference/ The National Indian Youth Council
Seizure of Alcatraz Island
Pan-Indian activism
The Trail of Broken Treaties
Siege at Wounded Knee, 1973
Leonard Peltier
WARN (Women of All Red Nations)
Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash
Mary Crow Dog
Group Six: Native American Arts; Presents on Tuesday, October 31
Traditional and/or contemporary music
Native poets
Native film and theatre
Native art galleries and museums
The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990
Native history, culture, spirituality, politics in artistic expression
Some suggestions: John Trudell, Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble, Spiderwoman Theater, Tse Tsan (Pablita Velarde), Fritz Scholder, RC Gorman, Joy Harjo, Keith Secola, Nora Noranjo-Morse