Happy Control Panel Saturday, with a tiny frontal lobe control room from Roger Dean’s 1973 cover art for Gold the Man, by Joseph Green!
This one's also a sneak preview of the next post on my very cool art blog newsletter that you should sign up for, which is going to be all about brains in sci-fi!
This weird plant can use its strong viscous stomach acid as limbs to attack its prey. After just one touch, even if the prey escapes the acidic goo will still spread and dissolve it completely. The Jugoonaut will then leisurely find the now nutrition filled goo and reabsorb it.
Consider supporting me on ko-fi and get your own $5 monstur dooble!
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)
“For New York City Pride in 1994 (Stonewall 25), Baker created a mile-long rainbow flag that was carried down First Avenue in Manhattan. During the parade, Baker used scissors to cut segments from the flag to be rushed to Fifth Avenue for an impromptu protest march in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the headquarters of New York City’s anti-gay Catholic archdiocese.
^“At the bottom of the image is the segment of the flag cut for the St. Patrick’s Cathedral protest. Photograph by Mick Hicks”
“Gilbert Baker wearing a white sequined dress (right) and other protestors triumphantly march the cut pieces of the mile-long flag past St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Photograph by Charles Beal”
Lesbians! (Trying to get that good old zineslop look)
(Terfs hands off, this is modelled after a dear friend and trans lesbian, trans women are the backbone of the dyke community ok thanks for coming to my ted talk)
areudirty
vaporwave
snowghoul
andulkaphoto
annaxmalina
stormborns
