Assignment format Sourced information & Course Connection

Final Project
Final project: your final project will be handed in as one document, but it will have 2 parts to it:
Assignment format: Sourced information & Course Connection
Part 1: Sourced information
As you complete research for your final project, you will inevitably have to do a bit of research. As you gather information, add it here. You might have historical dates, summaries of events, quotes, descriptions, and explanations. You can put all of these in point form. They can be direct quotes (even cut and pasted paragraphs) or summaries and paraphrases written in your own words. The information can come from various sources (lecture notes/PowerPoints/ news articles, websites, online encyclopedias, dictionaries and Wikipedia) but YOU MUST CITE THESE SOURCES. Citations do not need to be super formal (use MLA/APA or just the name, author and URL; I just want to be able to find it if I need to) . Respect for others and their hard work means that you recognize the work they’ve done to help you. A citation is a recognition of their work and help.
This is where you will store all of your information for part 2. If can be as long or as short as you need it to be. I just want to see it. Hey! You can even share resources with classmates! Resources are universally available and there are no rules at this point preventing you from gathering knowledge together.
Part 2: Course Connection.
Listed below, there are a variety of topics to choose from. Choose one. To answer the question you choose, use the sourced information in part one, and then reflect on it. Connect the facts to what we have been doing all term. This is where you make the connection. Part 2 will be in paper format (paragraphs), but it does not need to be a formal paper structure. After all, it is a reflection (longer, connected to resources, but still a reflection). Your longer reflection should be 3-5 pages in length. It will blend the facts you’ve gathered in part one with your experiences in the course.
1) Novel study: choose a novel by a contemporary Indigenous author and read it in its entirety.
Summarize the plot and any thematic elements that ran through the novel. Then connect it to the content of the course. In other words, explain how the issues in the novel (and perhaps character’s choices and motivations) relate to the contemporary Indigenous experience, the impacts of colonization and the relationship between indigenous peoples and Colonizing powers.
Some suggestions for novels:
Seven Fallen Feathers, Tanya Talaga
The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline
The Break, Katherena Vermette
An Inconvenient Indian, Thomas King
Johnny Appleseed, Joshua Whitehead
Glass Beads, Dawn Dumont
Rose’s Run, Dawn Dumont
Another novel of your choice (please contact me)
2) Extended Podcast Project: listen to a longer podcast series.
Once you have listened to the entire podcast, briefly summarize the story that the journalist was following. Then connect the events, the issues, and some of the comments made in the podcast to the course material (that is, how does the podcast reflect contemporary Indigenous issues, the impact of colonization, and the relationship between Canada and Indigenous communities).
Some suggestions for longer podcasts:
Missing and Murdered: Finding Cleo
Missing and Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams?
Thunder Bay
Metis Women in Space
The Henceforward
3) Biography of an Artist: Choose an indigenous artist and research their life and works
Research a contemporary (or fairly contemporary) Indigenous artist. Briefly summarize their personal history, how they got into the arts and how their art reflects their own personal experience as an Indigenous person. For a visual artist, you may choose a few key images to add to your paper and explain how their art reflects indigenous art more generally (If you choose a performance artist, you may add the links to 1-2 video clips). Are their works exemplar of indigenous art or do they have a unique style that goes beyond? How does their work reflect current contemporary indigenous experience, the impact of colonization and the relationship between Indigenous communities and colonizing powers?
Some suggestions for artists:
Kent Monkman
Annie Pootoogook
Kenojuak Ashevak
Norvil Morrison
Christi Belcourt
Tribe Called Red
Tanya Tagaq
A different artist or musician of your choice (please contact me first)
4) Research a current political issue:
Research a current political issue and briefly summarize the timeline of issue. Also, list the main interested parties on this issue and their stances on the issue. Some other questions to consider: What does the Canadian population in general think about the issue? How much do Canadians even know about the issue? What are some of the underlying problems (racism, sexism, corruption, colonialism, or greed, for example) related to this political issue? How does it reflect the current contemporary indigenous experience, the impact of colonization and the relationship between Indigenous communities and colonizing powers?
Some suggestions for current political issues:
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
The Millennial Scoop (the Sixties Scoop, extended)
Current land disputes between Wet’suwet’en people and the Trans Canadian Pipeline Company
Mental Health and Suicide crisis in one (or more than one) Canadian Indigenous community
Environmental crises (such as unsafe drinking water) in one or more indigenous community
The dispute between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Lobster fishers in Nova Scotia
1492 Landback Lane (land dispute in Caledonia, Ontario)
A current political issue of your choice (please contact me first to confirm)
5) A personal journey:
If you identify as an Indigenous person and you have taken this course to learn more about the history of your own cultural group or to better understand how colonization impacts those around you (including yourself), you can commit to a personal research project. This may include interviews (of family members, friends, and community members) and personal documents but will probably also include some academic research too. Remember to consider how your personal journey connects to some of the issues we have been discussing in class such as the contemporary Indigenous experience, the impacts of colonization and the relationship between Canada and Indigenous communities. Please let me know if you choose this option, so that I can help you make your research task manageable.