Indigenous Poetics in Canada

Indigenous Poetics in Canada broadens the way in which Indigenous poetry is examined, studied, and discussed in Canada. Breaking from the parameters of traditional English literature studies, this volume embraces a wider sense of poetics, including Indigenous oralities, languages, and understandings of place.
Featuring work by academics and poets, the book examines four elements of Indigenous poetics. First, it explores the poetics of memory: collective memory, the persistence of Indigenous poetic consciousness, and the relationships that enable the Indigenous storytelling process. The book then explores the poetics of performance: Indigenous poetics exist both in written form and in relation to an audience. Third, in an examination of the poetics of place and space, the book considers contemporary Indigenous poetry and classical Indigenous narratives. Finally, in a section on the poetics of medicine, contributors articulate the healing and restorative power of Indigenous poetry and narratives.

List of contents

• Indigenous Poetics in Canada, edited by Neal McLeod
• Introduction Neal McLeod
• Poetics of Memory
• 1 Achimo Duncan Mercredi
• 2 Interview with Armand Garnet Ruffo Conducted by Neal McLeod
• 3 Edgework: Indigenous Poetics as Re-placement Warren Cariou
• 4 Pauline Passed Here Janet Marie Rogers
• 5 Writer-Reader Reciprocity and the Pursuit of Alliance through Indigenous Poetry Sam McKegney
• 6 Remembering the Poetics of Ancient Sound kistêsinâw/wîsahkêcâhk's maskihkiy (Elder Brother's Medicine) Tasha Beeds
• 7 On Reading Basso David Newhouse
• 8 The Pemmican Eaters Marilyn Dumont
• 9 Cree Poetic Discourse Neal McLeod
• Poetics of Place
• 10 "Bubbling Like a Beating Heart": Reflections on Nishnaabeg Poetic and Narrative Consciousness Leanne Simpson
• 11 Getting (Back) to Poetry: A Memoir Daniel David Moses
• 12 Kwadây Kwańdur-Our Shagóon Alyce Johnson
• 13 "Pimuteuat/ Ils marchent/ They Walk": A Few Observations on Indigenous Poetry and Poetics in French Michèle Lacombe
• 14 Iskigamizigan (The Sugarbush): A Poetics of Decolonization Waaseyaa'sin Christine Sy
• 15 The Power of Dirty Waters: Indigenous Poetics Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair
• 16 A Poetics of Place and Apocalypse: Conflict and Contradiction in Poetry of the Red River Resistance and the Northwest Resistance Jesse Rae Archibald-Barber
• 17 My Poem Is an Indian Woman Rosanna Deerchild
• Poetics of Performance
• 18 Interview with Marvin Francis Conducted by Rosanna Deerchild and Shayla Elizabeth
• 19 Blood Moves with Us—Story Poetry Lives Inside Janet Rogers
• 20 Revitalizing Indigenous Swagger: Poetics from a Plains Cree Perspective Lindsay "Eekwol" Knight
• 21 A Conversation of Influence, Tradition, and Indigenous Poetics: An Interview with Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm Conducted by Rhiannon Johnson
• 22 The "Nerve of Cree," the Pulse of Africa: Sound Identities in Cree, Cree-Métis, and Dub Poetries in Canada Susan Gingell
• 23 Poetics of Renewal: Indigenous Poetics-Message or Medium? Lillian Allen
• Poetics of Medicine
• 24 Indigenous Poetry and the Oral Lee Maracle
• 25 Poems as Healing Bundles Gregory Scofield
• 26 Small Birds/Songs Out of Silence Joanne Arnott
• 27 Stretching through Our Watery Sleep: Feminine Narrative Retrieval of cihcipistikwân in Louise Halfe's The Crooked Good Lesley Belleau
• 28 "Learning to Listen to a Quiet Way of Telling": A Study of Cree Counselling Discourse Patterns in Maria Campbell's Halfbreed Gail MacKay
• About the Contributors
• Index




About the author










Neal McLeod grew up Cree on the James Smith Reserve in Saskatchewan and studied at the Swedish Art Academy at Umeå. His 2005 exhibition au fil de mes jours (in my lifetime), at Le Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, was remounted at the Museum of Civilization in 2007. He has two books of poetry - Songs to Kill a Wîhtikow (2005) and Gabriel's Beach (2008). Cree Narrative Memory (2007) was nominated for book of the year at the Anskohk McNally Aboriginal Literature Awards. He teaches Indigenous studies at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.

Product details

• Assisted by: Neal McLeod (Editor)
• Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 16.05.2014
• EAN: 9781554589821
• ISBN: 978-1-55458-982-1
• No. of pages: 416
• Dimensions: 154 mm x 231 mm x 25 mm
• Weight: 599 g
• Series: Indigenous Studies
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Ethnology > Ethnology