Bobbi Lee Maracle (born Marguerite Aline Carter; July 2, 1950November 11, 2021) was an
Indigenous Canadian writer and academic of the
Stó꞉lō
The Stó꞉lō (), alternately written as Sto꞉lo, Stó:lô, or Stó:lõ, historically as Staulo or Stahlo, and historically known and commonly referred to in ethnographic literature as the Fraser River Indians or Lower Fraser Salish, are a group ...
nation. Born in
North Vancouver, British Columbia, she left formal education after grade 8 to travel across North America, attending
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...
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
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
, particularly women, in contemporary North America.
Early life and education
The granddaughter of
Tsleil-Waututh
The Tsleil-Waututh Nation ( hur, səlilwətaɬ ), formerly known as the Burrard Indian Band or Burrard Inlet Indian Band, is a First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The Tsleil-Waututh Nation ("TWN") are Co ...
Chief Dan George,
Marguerite Aline Carter was born on July 2, 1950, in
North Vancouver, British Columbia.
"Lee" was a nickname for "Aline".
She grew up in North Vancouver,
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,
to Toronto.
After returning to Canada, she attended
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...
.
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
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
.
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.
Critic Harmut Lutz describes ''Indian Rebel'' as "a celebration of Native survival", comparing it to the works of
Maria Campbell
Maria Campbell (born April 26, 1940 near Park Valley, Saskatchewan) is a Métis author, playwright, broadcaster, filmmaker, and Elder. Campbell is a fluent speaker of four languages: Cree, Michif, Western Ojibwa, and English. Four of her publis ...
and
Howard Adams
Howard Adams (September 8, 1921 – September 8, 2001) was a twentieth century Metis academic and activist.
Life
He was born in St. Louis, Saskatchewan, Canada, on September 8, 1921, the son of Olive Elizabeth McDougall, a French Métis mot ...
.
''Indian Rebel'' was "one of the first Indigenous works published in Canada".
''I Am Woman'' (1988) applies
feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and femin ...
to the situation of Indigenous women, describing women's sexual victimization at the hands of Indigenous and white men alike.
''Sojourner's Truth'' (1990), a collection of short stories, describes the everyday lives of Indigenous people dealing with a "
Eurocentric
Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism)
is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western worl ...
culture".
Her poetry book, ''Hope Matters'', was written in conjunction with her daughters
Columpa Bobb
Columpa C. Bobb (born 1971) is a Canadian photographer, actress, playwright, poet and teacher of Coastal Salish descent. She has been performing, writing plays, and teaching for 20 years.
Career
Bobb, who is originally from Vancouver, has writ ...
and Tania Carter, and was published in 2019.
Academic positions
Maracle was one of the founders of the En'owkin International School of Writing in
Penticton, British Columbia
Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its population was 33,761, while its census agglomeration population w ...
.
She was the cultural director of the
Centre for Indigenous Theatre
The Centre for Indigenous Theatre is a non-for profit theater educational institution located in Toronto, Ontario. It focuses on performance art from an Indigenous cultural foundation.
History
James H. Buller founded the Centre in 1974 as the ...
in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, Ontario, from 1998 to 2000.
Maracle taught at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
,
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...
, and
Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a public university in Ashland, Oregon. It was founded in 1872 as the Ashland Academy, has been in its current location since 1926, and was known by nine other names before assuming its current name in 1997.Kre ...
, and was a professor of Canadian culture at
Western Washington University
Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...
. She lived in Toronto, teaching at the University of Toronto First Nations House. She was the writer-in-residence at the
University of Guelph
, mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities"
, established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922)
, type = Public university
, chancellor ...
.
[
]
Personal life
Maracle belonged to the Stó꞉lō
The Stó꞉lō (), alternately written as Sto꞉lo, Stó:lô, or Stó:lõ, historically as Staulo or Stahlo, and historically known and commonly referred to in ethnographic literature as the Fraser River Indians or Lower Fraser Salish, are a group ...
nation and had Salish and Cree ancestry. 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
Columpa C. Bobb (born 1971) is a Canadian photographer, actress, playwright, poet and teacher of Coastal Salish descent. She has been performing, writing plays, and teaching for 20 years.
Career
Bobb, who is originally from Vancouver, has writ ...
, and one son, actor Sid Bobb
Sidney "Sid" Bobb (born January 10, 1980) is a Canadian actor and television presenter. He is the co-artistic director at Aanmitaagzi in North Bay, Ontario and an instructor at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre. From 2007 to 2016, he, along with P ...
.
She died on November 11, 2021, at Surrey Memorial Hospital
Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH) is a publicly funded hospital owned and operated by Fraser Health in the city of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada adjacent to King George Boulevard.
Overview
Surrey Memorial Hospital began operations in early 1959, ...
in Surrey, British Columbia.
Awards and honours
Maracle was named an officer of the Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the cen ...
in 2018. 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. She delivered the 2021 Margaret Laurence Lecture on "A Writing Life". In 2020, she was named finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for "Celia's Song".
Publications
Fiction
* ''Sojourner's Truth and Other Stories'' (1990)
* ''Sundogs'' – 1992
* '' Ravensong'' – ( Press Gang Publishers, 1993)
* ''Daughters Are Forever'' (2002)
* ''Will's Garden'' (2002)
* ''First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style'' (Theytus Books Publishing, 2010)
*
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)
* ''My Conversations with Canadians'' (2017)
Poetry
* ''Bent Box'' (2000)
*Talking to the Diaspora (2015) ISBN 9781894037655
* (with Columpa Bobb and Tania Carter)
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
Sky Lee (born September 15, 1952 as Sharon Lee) is a Canadian artist and novelist. Lee has published both feminist fiction and non-fiction and identifies as lesbian.
Personal life
Lee was born September 15, 1952 in Port Alberni, British Columbia ...
and Daphne Marlatt) ( Press Gang Publishers, 1990)
See also
* List of University of Waterloo people
The University of Waterloo, located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, is a comprehensive public university that was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles. It has grown into an institution of more than 42,000 students, faculty, and ...
Citations
General sources
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maracle, Lee
1950 births
2021 deaths
Writers from Vancouver
Canadian women poets
Canadian women novelists
First Nations feminists
Simon Fraser University alumni
Southern Oregon University faculty
Western Washington University faculty
University of Toronto faculty
University of Waterloo faculty
First Nations women writers
20th-century Canadian novelists
21st-century Canadian novelists
20th-century Canadian poets
21st-century Canadian poets
20th-century Canadian women writers
21st-century Canadian women writers
First Nations poets
First Nations novelists
Canadian feminist writers
Officers of the Order of Canada
20th-century First Nations writers
21st-century First Nations writers
Canadian indigenous women academics
First Nations academics