15 Aug Questions
This consists of two short essays, each of which should be two to three double-spaced pages in length.
- Drawing upon Tommy Oranges novel There There and Kent MacKenzies film The Exiles, briefly discuss how urban Native Americans have suffered and survived the unrelenting assaults of American history and culture. In your estimation, why are the 49 Party on Hill X (in The Exiles) and the Big Oakland Powwow (in There There) so significant to how these urban Indians define themselves, demonstrate their resilience, and resist their erasure in modern America?
- In his writings about California, historian Kevin Starr has insisted that Californians can rise above their worst impulses of greed, violence, and racism to render the state an exemplary model to the nation and the world. In a brief comment, make a case for or against whether Starr is right to be so optimistic given what you have learned about Californias history of racial violence.
