Smoke Signals

I (Charly) just put up the readings by Takaki and Zinn in the fotocopiadora across the street. For our discussion sections this week, please read one or more of the following:

1. The chapter from Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States
2. The chapter from Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror
3. Wikipedia reading on the following terms (print out the pages if possible): melting pot, Trail of Tears, Manifest Destiny, smoke signals, Battle of Little Big Horn, Sitting Bull, Andrew Jackson, John Wayne. Feel free to explore others as well, such as this definition of the so-nicknamed "spaghetti Western" genre.

Please come ready to talk about the reading you choose. Think about Argentine history, too, and find information about the history of Argentina's indigenous peoples as well.

Smoke Signals, an independent film which won critical acclaim at Sundance and other film festivals and was later redistributed by Miramax, was the first feature film written, directed, produced and acted by Native Americans. As we watch the film together, think about the ways in which the movie Smoke Signals presents an alternative vision to previous films made about Native Americans. What issues are explored in the film?