University of Manitoba - Faculty of Arts - Native Studies - Dr. Emma LaRocque
Dr. Emma LaRocque

 

Ph.D. (Interdisc. History/English, Women's Studies) University of Manitoba, 1999
M.A. (History) University of Manitoba, 1980
M.A. (Peace Studies) AMBS, Elkhart, Indiana, 1976
B.A. (Communications/English) Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana, 1973 Professor

 


Office:  539 Fletcher Argue Bldg
Phone:  (204) 474-9572
Fax:      (204) 474-7657
Email:   emma.larocque@ad.umanitoba.ca


Research Interests

Dr. Emma LaRocque: Dr. LaRocque's interests include colonization and decolonization, Indigenous-White relations, Aboriginal resistance in literature, identity, and many other fields related to Indigenous represenation. Dr. LaRocque is the departmen's longest service faculty member and has been with the department since 1976. A poet and writer, Dr. la Rocque has created or redesigned many of our core courses (such as on Native Women) and is the author of two books: Defeathering The Indian and When the Other Is Me: Native Resistance Discourse 1850-1990, as well numerous academic articles or chapters. In 2005 Dr. La Rocque received an Aboriginal Acheivement Award for education.

LaRocque continues to research colonial interference and Aboriginal resistance strategies in the areas of literature, historiography, representation, identity, gender roles, industrial encroachment on Aboriginal (Indian and Métis) lands and resources, and governance.

Teaching (*courses I created or **re-designed)

NATV 1200 - **Introduction to Native Peoples in Canada
NATV 1220 - Introduction to Native Peoples in Canada, I
NATV 1240 - Introduction to Native Peoples in Canada, II
NATV 2020 - Métis of Canada
NATV.2410 - **Canadian Native Literature
NATV 2450 - *Images of Indians in North American Society
NATV 3000 - *Native Women Seminars (Selected Topics)
NATV 4250 - *Topics on Aboriginal Identities
NATV 4200 - First Nations Governance
NATV 7000 - *Representation and Resistance
NATV 7240 - Issues in Colonization/Decolonization

Publications

Dr. LaRocque is the author of Defeathering The Indian (1975); she has also written numerous scholarly and popular articles on images of "Indians" in the media and marketplace, Canadian historiography, Native literature, education, racism, and violence against women. Her poetry has appeared in national and international journals and anthologies.

Recent Publications
"When the ‘The Wild West' Is Me: Re-viewing Cowboys and Indians." Challenging Frontiers: The Canadian West. B. Rasporich and L. Felske, eds. University of Calgary Press. 2004.

"Teaching Native Literatures:Margins and Mainstreams." Reading Aboriginal Literatures: Epistemological, Pedagogical and Canonical Concerns. R. Eigenbrod and J. Thom, eds. Bearpaw Publishing. 2002.

"Native Identity and the Métis: Otepayimsuak Peoples." A Passion For Identity: An Introduction to Canadian Studies (4th edition). D. Taras and B. Rasporich, eds. International Thompson Publishing, 2001.

"From the Land to the Classroom: Broadening Aboriginal Epistemology." Pushing The Margins. J.Oakes, R.Riewe, M.Bennett and B. Chisholm, eds. Native Studies Press, 2000.

9 of LaRocque's poems are featured in Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology. Jeannette Armstrong and Lally Grauer, eds. 2001.

"Speaking To Colonization: An Omnibus Review of Howard Adams A Tortured People (97) and Maria Campbell's Road Allowance People (95)." Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review, 156 (Spring 1998).

"Re-examining Culturally-Appropriate Models in Criminal Justice Applications." Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in Canada: Essays on Law, Equality and Respect for Difference. M. Asch, ed. UBC Press, 1997.

"Tides, Towns and Trains." Reinventing The Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writings of North America. Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird, eds. NY: W.W.Norton & Co., 1997.

"The Colonization of a Native Woman Scholar." Women of the First Nations. P.Chuchryk and C.Miller, eds. 1996.

"When the Other Is Me: Native Writers Confronting Canadian Literature." Issues in the North, Vol. I. J.Oakes and R.Riewe, eds. Canadian Circumpolar Institute, 1996.

"Violence in Aboriginal Communities." The Path To Healing: Report of the National Round Table on Aboriginal Health and Social Issues. RCAP, 1993.

"Three Conventional Approaches to Native People in Society and in Literature." Survival of the Imagination: The Mary Donaldson Memorial Lectures. B.Balon and P. Resch, eds. Coteau Books, 1993.

"Preface" and a collection of poems. Writing The Circle: Native Women of Western Canada. J.Perreault and S. Vance, eds. 1990.

Academic and Community Service

Co-founder and Exec Member of Manitoba Studies in Native History Board of Directors

Member, Human Rights Ad Hoc Committee, Faculty of Arts, Appointed by the Dean

Member of numerous university and community committees throughout the years

Frequent Guest Lecturer and/or consultant for a wide variety of academic conferences, community agencies or projects

Poetry readings

Current Academic/Research Projects
Working on manuscript for publication on colonial misrepresentation in historiography and literature and Aboriginal resistance response as expressed in contemporary Aboriginal writing.

Research on development of Aboriginal literary theory: negotiating indigenity and post-colonial trend

On-going research on Native poetry, Native women's writing, Métis literature

Research on the invention, production of images of "Indians" in North American Society

Poetry

Research on the Decolonization of Knowledge: Western and Traditional Systems

Academic and Other Professional Achievements

2005 Aboriginal Achievement Award Recepient

Dissertation nominated for the University of Manitoba Distinguished Dissertation Award, 1999.

"Popular Profs" mention in McLean's Guide to Universities & Colleges, 2000, 2001, 2002

Nominated for the Saunderson & Stanton Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1986

Keynote speaker at the "If Gender Mattered" Conference sponsored by the Saskatchewan
Women's Secretariat in Regina, 2001

Gave the plenary address at the "Crossing The West(s)" Conference, The Canadian Association for American Studies and Western Literature Association, Banff, Alberta, 1998

Gave the plenary address on Native Canadian Writing at the Learneds in Montreal, 1995

Presented a paper on Canadian Native Literature and read her poetry at the "Commonwealth and Post-Colonial Literatures" Conference, University of Leeds in England, 1994

Keynote address at the "Race, Ethnicity and Otherness in America" Conference, Carlton University, Ottawa, 1994

Featured North American Native writer at the Indigenous Writer's Festival in Sydney, Australia, 1993

She has been a guest of Vicki Gaboreau and Peter Gzowski on CBC Radio and appeared as a consultant on Métis identity in Christine Welsh's film "Women in the Shadows."

Biographical Entries
Reader's Encyclopedia of Canadian Writing, 2001

Canadian Who's Who, 1989- 2002

Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, 1993

 

Academic and Professional Conference Papers and Lectures
"Conversations with Emma LaRocque: Negotiating Contexts, Sites and Locations in Scholarship." Women's and Gender Studies & Indigenous People's Research Centre, University of Saskatchewan, March 1, 2005.

Keynote Address: "Negotiating Culture, Gender and Human Rights." Women's and Gender Studies and IPHRC, University of Saskatchewan, March 1, 2005.

"Writing 'For the Love of Words': A Cultural Transmutation". An Opening Address at the 'For Love of Words': Aboriginal Writers of Canada Conference, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Sept 30 to October 2, 2004.

"Native Studies: Negotiating Culture and Canons of Knowledge", Keynote Address at the Canadian Indian Native Studies Association Conference, at the Congress, University of Manitoba, June 5, 2005.

"Aboriginal Literatures:Aesthetics of Resistance", Keynote Address, CACLALS at the Congress, University of Manitoba, May 30, 2004.

"Indigenity in Contemporary Metis Arts and Culture", at the 'Metis People of the 21st Century' Conference, Sponsored by the Indigenous People' Justice Initiative, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, June 18-20, 2003.

"Images of Aboriginal Women" in Dr Eigenbrod's class 'Intro to Native People of Canada' (32.120) April 3, 2003.

"Native Studies: A Catch-All, A Canon, A Critical Epistemology?", Dept of Natiove Studies Colloquium Series, March 5, 2003.

2005 Aboriginal Acheivement Award Recepient