Lee Maracle

{{Short description|Indigenous Canadian writer and academic (1950–2021)}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Lee Maracle

| honorific_suffix = OC

| image = Lee Maracle poet in 2009.png

| image_upright =

| caption = Maracle in 2009

| birth_name = Marguerite Aline Carter

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1950|07|02}}

| birth_place = North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|11|11|1950|07|02}}

| death_place = Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

| relatives = Chief Dan George (grandfather)
Joan Phillip (sister)

| spouse = Raymond Bobb
Aiyyana Maracle

| children = 3, including Columpa Bobb and Sid Bobb

| signature =

| website =

}}

Bobbi Lee Maracle {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|OC}} (born Marguerite Aline Carter; July 2, 1950{{snd}}November 11, 2021) was an Indigenous Canadian writer and academic of the Stó꞉lō nation. Born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, she left formal education after grade 8 to travel across North America, attending Simon Fraser University on her return to Canada. Her first book, an autobiography called Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel, was published in 1975. She wrote fiction, non-fiction, and criticism and held various academic positions. Maracle's work focused on the lives of Indigenous people, particularly women, in contemporary North America. As an influential writer and speaker, Maracle fought for those oppressed by sexism, racism, and capitalist exploitation.

Early life and education

The granddaughter of Tsleil-Waututh Chief Dan George, Marguerite Aline Carter was born on July 2, 1950, in North Vancouver, British Columbia.{{Cite news|last=Traub|first=Alex|date=2021-11-14|title=Lee Maracle, Combative Indigenous Author, Dies at 71|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/14/books/lee-maracle-dead.html|access-date=2021-11-15|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite book|last=Sonneborn|first=Liz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N7eiezmLjfEC|title=A to Z of American Indian Women|date=May 14, 2014|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0788-2|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N7eiezmLjfEC&pg=PA147 147–148]|language=en|chapter=Maracle, Lee (Bobbi Lee)}}{{Cite web|last1=Estlin|first1=Lara|last2=Fee|first2=Margery|date=April 2019|title=Lee Maracle|url=http://thepeopleandthetext.ca/featured-authors/LeeMaracle|access-date=November 11, 2021|website=The People and the Text|publisher=Simon Fraser University}} "Lee" was a nickname for "Aline". She grew up in North Vancouver,{{Cite book|last=Lutz|first=Hartmut|title=Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary|publisher=Garland Publishing|year=1993|isbn=0-8240-5267-6|editor-last=Bataille|editor-first=Gretchen M.|pages=163–164|chapter=Maracle, Lee [Bobbi Lee]|oclc=26052106}} raised mainly by her mother, Jean (Croutze) Carter.

Maracle dropped out of school after grade 8 and went from California, where she did various jobs that included producing films and doing stand-up comedy,{{cite web|last=Bonikowsky|first=Laura Neilson|date=August 12, 2019|title=Lee Maracle|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lee-maracle/|access-date=November 11, 2021|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia|publisher=}} to Toronto. After returning to Canada, she attended Simon Fraser University. In the 1970s, she became involved with the Red Power movement in Vancouver.

Writing

Maracle's writing explores the experience of Indigenous women, critiquing patriarchy and white supremacy. Her first book was an autobiography: Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel, published in 1975. The book began as an assignment in a course about writing life histories.{{Cite book|last=Wenning|first=Elizabeth|title=Contemporary Authors|title-link=Contemporary Authors|publisher=Gale|year=1996|isbn=0-8103-9347-6|editor-last=Edgar|editor-first=Kathleen J.|volume=149|pages=284–286|chapter=Maracle, Lee|oclc=34539955|issn=0010-7468}} Critic Harmut Lutz describes Indian Rebel as "a celebration of Native survival", comparing it to the works of Maria Campbell and Howard Adams. Indian Rebel was "one of the first Indigenous works published in Canada".

I Am Woman (1988) applies feminist theory to the situation of Indigenous women, describing women's sexual victimization at the hands of Indigenous and white men alike while reflecting on her own struggle for liberation. Sojourner's Truth (1990), a collection of short stories, describes the everyday lives of Indigenous people dealing with a "Eurocentric culture". Her poetry book, Hope Matters, was written in conjunction with her daughters Columpa Bobb and Tania Carter, and was published in 2019.{{Cite news|date=April 11, 2019|title=20 works of Canadian poetry to check out in spring 2019|work=CBC Books|url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/20-works-of-canadian-poetry-to-check-out-in-spring-2019-1.4988169|access-date=November 11, 2021}}

Sundogs, 1992, Maracle's first novel, touches on remembering Native heritage and recollecting cultural roots.

Ravensong, (1993), speaks of blending oral tradition and holistic oneness with living while tackling the barriers of racism, sexism, and class.

Academic positions

Maracle was one of the founders of the En'owkin International School of Writing in Penticton, British Columbia. She was the cultural director of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, from 1998 to 2000.

Maracle taught at the University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, and Southern Oregon University, and was a professor of Canadian culture at Western Washington University. She lived in Toronto, teaching at the University of Toronto First Nations House. She was the writer-in-residence at the University of Guelph.

Personal life

Maracle belonged to the Stó꞉lō nation and had Salish and Cree ancestry.{{Cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Sheena|title=Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature|publisher=Facts on File|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8160-5656-9|editor-last1=McClinton-Temple|editor-first1=Jennifer|pages=220–222|chapter=Maracle, Lee|oclc=70707792|editor-last2=Velie|editor-first2=Alan R.}} She has been described as Métis. She was married to Raymond Bobb and later to Aiyyana Maracle. She and Raymond had two daughters, including Columpa Bobb, and one son, actor Sid Bobb.

She died on November 11, 2021, at Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey, British Columbia.{{Cite news|last=Brend|first=Yvette|date=November 11, 2021|title=Lee Maracle, revolutionary Indigenous author and poet, dead at 71|work=CBC News|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/lee-maracle-death-bc-indigenous-writer-poet-1.6245582|access-date=November 11, 2021}}

Awards and honours

Maracle was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 2018.{{Cite web|title=Lee Maracle|url=https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/146-16497|access-date=November 11, 2021|publisher=Governor General of Canada}} In 2017, Maracle was presented with the Bonham Centre Award from the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, University of Toronto, for her contributions to the advancement and education of issues around sexual identification.{{cite web|author=|date=|title=Decolonizing sexuality: U of T recognizes Indigenous educators and advocates for sexual diversity|url=https://www.utoronto.ca/news/decolonizing-sexuality-u-t-recognizes-indigenous-educators-and-advocates-sexual-diversity|access-date=July 7, 2017|website=University of Toronto News}} She delivered the 2021 Margaret Laurence Lecture on "A Writing Life".{{cite web|title=Margaret Laurence Lecture|url=https://www.writerstrust.com/events/margaret-laurence-lecture-series/|access-date=November 11, 2021|website=writerstrust.com|publisher=Writers' Trust of Canada}} In 2020, she was named finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for "Celia's Song".{{Cite web|title=L'écrivaine autochtone Lee Maracle n'est plus|url=https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/647808/1950-2021-l-ecrivaine-autochtone-lee-maracle-n-est-plus|access-date=2021-11-17|website=Le Devoir|date=November 17, 2021 |language=fr}}

Publications

=Fiction=

Sojourner's Truth and Other Stories (1990){{cite journal|last=Batty|first=Nancy|date=January 1991|title=Lee Maracle, 'Sojourner's Truth and Other Stories'|journal=Canadian Ethnic Studies|volume=23|issue=3|pages=181–183|id={{ProQuest|1293216001}}}}
Sundogs – 1992{{cite journal|last=Lyon|first=George W.|date=1995|title=Sundogs|journal=Canadian Ethnic Studies|volume=27|issue=1|pages=174–175|id={{ProQuest|215641002}}}}
Ravensong – (Press Gang Publishers, 1993){{Cite journal|last1=Fraile-Marcos|first1=Ana María|last2=López-Serrano|first2=Lucía|date=June 17, 2021|title=Stories as 'med-sins': Lee Maracle's Ravensong and Celia's Song|journal=Journal of Postcolonial Writing|volume=57 |issue=6 |language=en|pages=738–751|doi=10.1080/17449855.2021.1934517|s2cid=237877370|issn=1744-9855|hdl=10366/154221|hdl-access=free}}
Daughters Are Forever (2002){{Sfn|Coleman|2012|p=53}}
Will's Garden (2002)
First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style (Theytus Books Publishing, 2010){{cite journal|last=Jacobs|first=Madelaine|date=2014|title=Healing Imagination|journal=Canadian Literature|volume=222|pages=142–144, 205|id={{ProQuest|1799550480}}}}
{{cite book|title=Celia's Song|publisher=Cormorant Books|year=2014|isbn=978-1-77086-416-0}}

=Non-fiction=

Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel (1975, reissued 1990)
I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism (1988; Press Gang Publishers, 1996)
Oratory: Coming to Theory (1990){{Cite book|last1=Juricek|first1=Kay|title=Contemporary Native American Authors: A Biographical Dictionary|last2=Morgan|first2=Kelly J.|publisher=Fulcrum|year=1997|isbn=1-55591-917-0|pages=152–153|oclc=35305089}}
Memory Serves: Oratories (2015) {{ISBN|9781926455440}}
My Conversations with Canadians (2017){{Cite web|last=Al-Solaylee|first=Kamal|date=January 4, 2018|title=My Conversations with Canadians; Blank: Essays and Interviews|url=https://quillandquire.com/review/my-conversations-with-canadians/|access-date=November 11, 2021|website=Quill and Quire|language=en}}

=Poetry=

Bent Box (2000)
Talking to the Diaspora (2015) ISBN 9781894037655
{{cite book|title=Hope Matters|publisher=Book*hug|year=2019|isbn=9781771664974}} (with Columpa Bobb and Tania Carter){{cite journal|last=Janssen|first=Jessica|date=2020|title=Voices of Trauma and Hope|journal=Canadian Literature|volume=240|id={{Gale|A635140080}}}}

=Collaborations=

My Home as I Remember (2000)
We Get Our Living Like Milk from the Land (1993)
Telling It: Women and Language Across Cultures (with Betsy Warland, Sky Lee and Daphne Marlatt) (Press Gang Publishers, 1990)

Citations

General sources

{{Cite book|last1=Coleman|first1=Daniel|chapter=Epistemological Crosstalk: Between Melancholia and Spiritual Cosmology in David Chariandy's Soucouyant and Lee Maracle's Daughters Are Forever|editor-last1=Brydon|editor-first1=Diana|editor-last2=Dvorak|editor-first2=Marta|title=Crosstalk: Canadian and Global Imaginaries in Dialogue|year=2012|isbn=978-1-55458-309-6|oclc=759669241|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press|pages=53–72}}