as soon as i clicked post i realized damn that's such an evocatively erotic description, i should be using this sort of language about noble kinksters, not wasting it on class traitors
Why "Precolonial" Indigenous North American History Matters: A Mini Syllabus
Okay I had this half-finished lying around so I prettied it up into something vaguely usable and added links wherever possible (most of them being totally legal...)
This is not a full treatment of Indigenous history before European contact. It was originally created to be a 15 week class, so it was not intended to cover everything but to give a taste of various regions and histories. Unfortunately, certain essays I would highly recommend are in the Oxford handbooks I listed at the end, and I have been unable to locate free-to-access versions.
Each section includes a question to consider that is intended to suggest ways that these precolonial histories have reverberations into the present. In a course I'd be able to draw them out more clearly, but keep them in mind as you read, if you like. Finally, please keep in mind that few of these sources will read like a "straightforward history" of "precolonial [xyz region/tribe/nation]." Be open-minded and critical-thinking!
Part 1: Foundations
Questions to consider:
Why didn't we learn this stuff?
Why should we learn this stuff?
Why do so many Indigenous people distrust historians / anthropologists / archaeologists?
Readings:
Michael Witgen (Red Cliff Ojibwe), "American Indians in World History" in The Oxford Handbook of American Indian History
Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux), Custer Died For Your Sins, chapter 4: "Anthropologists and Other Friends"
Floyd Westerman (Sisseton Dakota), "Here Come the Anthros" (music video!!)
Juliana Barr, "There's no such thing as prehistory"
Peregrine and Lekson, "The North American Oikumene"
(Parts 2-6 under the cut)
Part 2: Mesoamerica
Question to consider: How could so few Spaniards conquer the vast population of Tenochtitlan and other Aztec cities?
Readings:
Camilla Townsend, Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
Popol Vuh (translated by Allen J. Christenson)
Part 3: Aridoamerica/Oasisamerica
Question to consider: How did the Southwest region of the United States become so associated with the touristy image of the "peaceful Pueblo Indian"?
Readings:
Joe Sando (Jemez Pueblo), Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History
Kelley and Francis (Navajo), A Diné History of Navajoland, introduction
Severin Fowles, "The Pueblo Village in an Age of Reformation"
Part 4: The Midcontinent
Question to consider: How did the Five "Civilized" Tribes become so powerful, both historically and today?
Readings:
Alt and Pauketat, "Medieval Life in America's Heartland"
Christopher B. Teuton (Cherokee Nation), Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liar's Club
Part 5: The Great Lakes
Question to consider: What role did Indigenous peoples play in the French ultimately losing their North American colonies? (Why am I writing this in English and not French?)
Readings:
Georges Sioui (Wendat), Huron-Wendat: Heritage of the Circle (I can't find an online copy but it's extremely worth buying)
Kayanerehkowa: The Great Law of Peace (Kahnawake Mohawk)
Part 6: General Resources
I would also recommend these two handbooks, if you can get a hold of them for a non-outrageous price:
The Oxford Handbook of American Indian History (2016)
The Oxford Handbook of North American Archaeology (2011)
This mild Wikipedia sentence is like the understatement of all time
Here are some crazy grasshopper mouse facts for those who are not familiar with the most badass mouse species on the planet
- They are primarily carnivorous, and their diet is made up of not only bugs but also snakes, lizards and other mice.
- They hunt like true predators, slowly stalking and creeping up on their prey before ambushing them. They will sometimes let out a screech as they attack.
- Like wolves, they howl to establish territory and have a specially developed throat to produce louder vocalizations. They will stand up on their hind legs and throw their head back to howl- a sound that can be heard from 100 meters away!
- Grasshopper mouse behavior is linked to lunar cycles and they are more active during a full moon.
- These mice have been hunting bark scorpions and evolving alongside them for so long that they’ve evolved a mutation where scorpion venom that is lethal to other animals is converted into a painkiller in the grasshopper mouse’s body.
maine rejected a heinous voting restricting law & passed a red flag gun control law
colorado passed a tax on people who earn more than $300,000 a year, which will be used to fund food assistance programs
california passed its redistricting proposition, which heavily favors dems in a direct attempt to counter Republican gerrymandering on the national scale, in a landslide vote
in viginia, the state delegation went from 51-49 (D-R) to 63-37 (D-R), and dems also won the races for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General
and, again, Mamdani defeated Cuomo in the race for Mayor of NYC
Even more insane Dem victories in PA: Bucks County, a historically red collar county of Philadelphia, had 5 county level elections yesterday. The Dems swept every single one, multiple of them ousting incumbents. This notably included sheriff and district attorney. This is the first time ever Bucks County has elected a Democrat as DA. And he ousted an incumbant! That's a huge fucking deal. Also the sheriff-elect ousted a maga-loving incumbant who earlier this year signed a deal with ICE regarding immigration enforcement. The sheriff-elect has promised to end that deal by the end of the year.
In the 2013 F&C comic series, Prince Gumball makes a new sword for Fionna.
The sword comes with three wishes, granted by pressing the buttons on the hilt. Fionna uses two of them but keeps one.
In the episode "The Limit" Jake uses his wish at the centre of the labyrinth to wish for a sandwich.
In "Jake the Dog", Jake almost uses his Time Room wish to get a sandwich, establishing the obscure running gag that if Jake is given access to wish magic he will inevitably wish for a sandwich.
In "Graybles 1000+", Jake uses the magic wand to wish for a sandwich.
In today's episode, Fionna is holding her sword with the unused wish when Betty's crown-wish removes magic from the world, and in the non-magic Fionna World, the sword has turned into a sandwich.
Today's episode implies that not only does Jake inevitably wish for a sandwich, but actually "sandwich" is the default result of an unused wish.
Understanding this joke/reveal requires you to be aware of a very obscure running gag that has only occurred like three times across six seasons of the show, and to have remembered an inconsequential detail from a 2013 comic book that was never brought up again, AND to even realise in the first place that the scene in today's episode was depicting the removal of magic from Fionna World, which I didn't at first.
non-writers will never understand the mental illness of writing an entire conversation in your head while doing dishes and then forgetting every word the second you open a blank doc
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2087
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ellievsbear
turnnoffyourmind
stormborns
