Syllabus

2013 Summer Seminar in the History of the Book

Indigenous Cultures of Print in Early America

Leader: Phillip H. Round, University of Iowa

 

Monday - Bibliography and the Sociology of American Indian Texts: An Introduction
Guest scholar: Lisa Brooks, Amherst College

Morning Session

· Overview of “Indian Country”—definitions, historical and geographical scope

· Overview of alphabetic, syllabary, and non-alphabetic Native textual cultures

· Readings:

  • Brooks, “Entering Native Space,” from The Common Pot (2009).
  • Cohen, “Introduction,” from The Networked Wilderness (2010).
  • Lyons, “Mirgrations/Removals,” from X-Marks (2010).
  • Round, “Bibliography and the Sociology of American Indian Texts,” Textual Cultures 6.2 (Autumn, 2011): 119-132.

Afternoon Session (Hand-on survey of the archive)

· The Choctaw Nation vs. the United States

· Up Biblum God: The Holy Bible: Containing the Old Testament and the New (Cambridge, [Mass.]: [1663]).

· Iapi oaye. Dakota Mission, 1871-).

· Mr. Occom's address to his Indian brethren. : [Boston? , 1772].

· The Indian primer or The first book. (Boston, 1720).

 

Tuesday - Modes of Inscription and the Nature of the Archive
Guest scholar: Margaret Bruchac, University of Pennsylvania

Morning Session

· Readings:

  • Warkentin, “In Search of the Word of the Other,” Book History (1999): 1-27.
  • Rasmussen, “A New World Still in the Making,” from Queequeg’s Coffin (2012)
  • Teuton, “Diving into Deep Waters,” from Deep Waters (2010)
  • Laura Murray, “Vocabularies of Native Languages” AQ 53:4 (2001): 590-623.

Afternoon Session (Hand-on survey of the archive)

· Visit to the Mashantucket Pequot Research Library

 

Wednesday - Institutions and Genres
Guest scholar: Hilary Wyss, Auburn University

Morning Session

· Overview of Missionary Activities in British Colonial America/U.S. (1660-1830)

· Readings:

  • Selections from Jennifer Moneghan, Learning to Read and Write (UMass, 2007)
  • Selections from Hilary Wyss, English Letters and Indian Literacies (Penn, 2012).

Afternoon Session (Hand-on survey of the archive)

· The Indian primer or The first book. (Boston, 1720).

· Ne Jaguh'nigoa'ağes'gwathah = The mental elevator. Buffalo-Creek Reservation [Printed at the Seneca Mission-House], 1842).

 

Thursday - Authorship and Paratext

Morning Session

· Overview of Proprietary Authorship and Paratext

· Readings:

  • Foucault, “What is an Author?”
  • MacKenzie, “The Book as an Expressive Form” (1986).
  • Selections from Warrior, Tribal Secrets (1995) and The People and the Word (2005).
  • Armstrong, “Land Speaking” from Speaking for the Generations (1998).

Afternoon Session (Hand-on survey of the archive)

· Adventures of Peter Jones, [1830?].

· The Lectures of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh, (or G. Copway, the Indian chief,) at Hall No. 1, Tremont Temple, on Monday, Feb. 26, and on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 1849. [Boston : s.n., 1849]

· Apess, William. Eulogy on King Philip, : as pronounced at the Odeon, in Federal Street, Boston, / by the Rev. William Apes, an Indian. (Boston: : Published by the author., 1836).

· Apess, William. A son of the forest. (New-York: : Published by the author. G.F. Bunce, printer., 1831).

 

Friday

Seminar Presentations