Jesse Williams

Jesse Williams 03/09/09 Annotated Bibliography on Thomas King’s The Truth About Stories Andrews, Jennifer and Priscilla L. Walton. “Rethinking Canadian and American Nationality: Indigeneity and the 49th Parallel in Thomas King.” American Literary History 18.3 (2006): 600-617. This article focuses on the problems associated with an individual’s identity, the classification of indigenous individual’s works, the rigid classification of individuals, oral storytelling, and national boundaries in regards to tribal lands. Hopkins, Candice. “Making Things Our Own: The Indigenous Aesthetic in Digital Storytelling.” Leonardo 39.4 (2006): 341-344. Candice Hopkins uses The Truth About Stories to argue the legitimacy of video and digital methods of storytelling. She uses several examples of Native art in the form of video and internet to illustrate King’s idea that “the truth about stories is that that’s all we are.” Preston, Chris. “A Past of Tragic Stories: The (Non-) Treatment of Native Peoples’ Oral Histories in Canada.” Undercurrent 11.1 (2005): 54-64. This article addresses an idea expressed in The Truth About Stories: that oral history holds no weight against written history. Although Chris Preston does not use Thomas King’s works directly, this article emphasizes Thomas King’s ideas.

Rex, Cathy. “Survivance and Fluidity: George Copway’s The Life, History, and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh.” Studies in American Indian Literatures 18.2 (2006): 1-33. Cathy Rex uses Thomas King as a reference for the manner in which a native should function: “use the native present as a way to resurrect a native past and to imagine a native future.” Rosenberg, Roberta. “Importance of Storytelling: Students and Teachers Respond to September 11.” Pedagogy 8.1 (2008):145-154. Although Roberta Rosenberg’s article does not deal directly with Thomas King’s The Truth About Stories, she does echo his idea about the importance and healing qualities of storytelling. She uses this idea of storytelling and applies it to teaching/learning through the events of September 11, 2001. Teuton, Christopher B. “Interpreting Our World: Authority and the Written Word in Robert J. Conley’s Real People Series.” MFS Modern Fiction Studies 53.3 (2007): 544-568. Christopher B. Teuton uses Thomas King’s The Truth About Stories to address the problem of legitimacy of orality versus literacy, as well as the fluidity of the two mediums. Valandra, Edward Charles. “The As-Told-To Native [Auto]biography: Whose Voice Is Speaking?” Wicazo Sa Review 20.2 (2005):103-119. While Edward Charles Valandra does not use Thomas King as a source, he does address similar problems that King addresses in The Truth About Stories, such as loss of identity. Valandra discusses the affects that non-native literature has on society’s idea of a stereotypical “native.”

Weaver, Jace. ”More Light Than Heat: The Current State of Native American Studies.” American Indian Quarterly 31.2 (2007): 233-255. Weaver discusses the way in which Native American Studies should be taught, and in the process, echoes many of Thomas King’s ideas such as the problems associated with the stereotyped Native American culture and the difficulties in viewing the Native American literature through the Native American point of view. Wilson, Teresa Jean. “Bringing Memory Forward: Teachers’ Engagements with Constructions of ‘Difference’ in Teacher Literature Circles.” 10 April 2008. University of Victoria and British Columbia Canada. 5 March 2009 . Teresa Jean Wilson performs a study in which she uses literature circles, literacy autobiographies, and interviews to discover means in which to further in engage in the act of both teaching and learning. She uses Thomas King’s The Truth About Stories to express the importance of storytelling and the idea that stories shape who an individual is. Zitzer-Comfort, Carol. “Teaching Native American Literature: Inviting Students to See the World Through Indigenous Lenses.” Pedagogy 8.1 (2008): 160-170. Carol Zitzer-Comfort addresses the issues involved in teaching non-native students about Native American Literature. She addresses both the students’ views of stereotyping Native American Indians as well as the teachers’ assumptions.