Join us on January 28, 2022 at 1 pm PT for the virtual Ziegler Lecture Series, featuring Dr. Renae Watchman of McMaster University. This talk is co-sponsored by The Narratives Group. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Waterloo Centre for German Studies in the planning and organization of this virtual event in the CENES series on Indigenous Presence and Representation in German and European Studies.
View the recording of this talk here:
Title: “Trans-Atlantic Indigeneity: Indigenous Literary Presence in Europe”
Abstract: This presentation will examine how active Indigenous presence from Turtle Island has been depicted in novels, short stories, film, autobiography, and literary criticism by contemporary Indigenous authors and filmmakers across the pond. Looking at diasporic Indigenous people who have travelled to Europe or have made Europe their second home, while still upholding their Indigenous languages and lifeways to their home communities and kin, this talk approaches the work of the “greats” of Indigenous literary arts, including Silko, Welch, and King, to evaluate their depiction of distinctive Indigenous lifeways amid disparate historical and cultural contexts, seeking to centre Indigenous presence as it happens in the European context and beyond.
Bio: Renae Watchman is from the Diné Nation in Shiprock, NM. With a doctorate in German Studies from Stanford University (2007), she is an associate professor, jointly appointed in the Indigenous Studies Program and the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University. She is also Co-director of the Office of Academic Indigenization. Along with Hartmut Lutz and Florentine Strzelczyk, Dr. Watchman co-edited Indianthusiam: Indigenous Responses (2019) with Wilfrid Laurier University Press. She is currently working on a book manuscript that looks at the displacement of Indigenous stories and their connection to land, landscape and monoliths in visual media, titled: Tsé Bitʼaʼí. Mars, Myth, & Monolith: Keyah & Indigenous Stories Dislocated in Visual Media. Dr. Watchman’s teaching and research interests include: Indigenous literatures, visual storytelling, experiential, land-based pedagogies, and community service learning. Along with faculty, staff, and students, Dr. Watchman’s commitment to creative collaborations has culminated in initiatives that advocate for Indigenous presence, Indigenous cultural safety, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
