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June 2, 2014

Course Redesign Update: June 2, Great Lakes, Mississippi, Sioux

I added two new units to the Native American section: the Mississippi Valley - Great Lake collection edited by K. B. Judson and a collection of Sioux stories from two early Sioux women authors, Marie McLaughlin and Zitkala-Sa. I am so excited about both of these.

The material in the Judson book covers the adventures of Manabozho (Nanabozho, Nanabush, Manabush) which has got me thinking I really want to include a Hiawatha unit (yeah, Longfellow called him Hiawatha, but he really was Manabozho). So I need to ponder on that.


For the Sioux unit, there are great stories from both authors about Inktomi, the Sioux trickster hero, and I am so glad to have Zitkala-Sa as part of the course. She is a really fascinating individual, and I learned some new things about her while preparing this unit, including an important connection to Oklahoma: more about Zitkala-Sa. Here is a picture of her from Wikipedia: