Come for the indigenous activism, stay for the queer joy – the delightful Dr Jas M. Morgan (Toronto Metropolitan University) is here for both. In this deep dive into queer indigeneity in literature, art and academia, Jas talks about their brilliant writing, their creative communities, their kick-ass students, and how their trans nonbinary perspective shapes their work. Jas also explains why talking about art and literature without all the excessive lingo is awesome and why we seem to be in the middle of quite the moment for queer indigenous writing. Tune in to hear about some of the female*, queer, and trans* indigenous artists and activists that are breaking down barriers as we speak.

BTW, all the cool kids are following @notvanishing and @queerlitpodcast on Instagram and Twitter. @notvanishing is also on TikTok. Queer Lit is not that cool.

Terms, people and texts mentioned:

Cree-Métis-Saulteaux
Wahkohtowin
Cree
Nîtisânak (Metonymy Press, @metonymypress)
Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home
Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts
Jenn Shapland’s My Autobiography of Carson McCullers
Lisa Tatonetti
Lacan
Turtle Island
Orlando
Brené Brown
Joshua Whitehead
Tommy Pico
Chrystos
Aiyanna Maracle
Egerton Ryerson
Yellowhead Institute
Katherena Vermette’s The Strangers
Showgirls
Sapphic
Dana Danger
https://jasmorgan.com/2017/05/10/canadian-art-making-space-in-indigenous-art-for-bull-dykes-and-gender-weirdos/
Brandi Bird’s I am Still Too Much
@brandibird_
Rahila’s Ghost Press
@rahilasghost

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.What is the role of kinship in indigenous literature and storytelling? Can you connect this to queer kinship?
2.Why, does Jas explain, were their queer studies approaches viewed negatively within the field of native studies when they started out in academia?
3.Why was Toronto Metropolitan University recently renamed?
4.What does Jas think about the current interest in queer indigenous lifewriting?
5.What are your thoughts on collaboration and activism in academia?