Qwo-Li Driskill: Dragonfly Rising

I recently received my PhD in Rhetoric & Writing (Cultural Rhetorics Concentration) at Michigan State University. My dissertation focuses on the ways Cherokee performance rhetorics are used in struggles for decolonization. My research areas include Cherokee performance rhetorics, Native Two-Spirit/Queer Studies, historiography, oral history performance, Native language restoration, healing historical trauma, radical pedagogies, and Red-Black Studies. I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Texas A&M University.

Click here for more information on my current research, On the Wings of Wadaduga: Cherokee Two-Spirit Lives.

Click here to download a pdf.

Writing: American Radical Thought (WRA 130). Michigan State University: Spring, 2007.

Writing: American Radical Thought involves drafting, revising, and editing compositions derived from readings on American radical thought to develop skills in narration, persuasion, analysis, and documentation. The course is designed to have students examine the assumptions and positions of radical thinkers and organizations as well as assess their impact and influence on social change. This section focused on the ways in which the arts have been, are, and can be used as tools for radical social transformation. We examined social movements against racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, and ableism in the United States. There was clear attention to intersectional politics with particular focus on feminist, people of color, and Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender movements, identities, and communities. We engaged with the subject matter by exploring various genres including theory, poetry, fiction, visual rhetorics, film, music, and theater. The use of interactive theater in the classroom was a common learning technique.

Communication Design (CCC 540). Antioch University Seattle: Fall, 2006.

Communication Design is a core course offering for all graduate programs in the Center for Creative Change (CCC): Environment & Community, Management, Organizational Psychology, Strategic Communication, and Whole Systems Design. The course is designed to offer perspectives and skills for designing, presenting and evaluating effective communication with particular emphasis on writing. Students were expected to develop their ability to analyze rhetorical contexts, design and develop appropriate written and oral communication strategies, gain an understanding of the visual dimensions of oral and written communication, and develop effective skills for critiquing communication.

Writing: The American Ethnic and Racial Experience (WRA 125). Michigan State University: Fall, 2006.

Writing: The American Ethnic and Racial Experience involves drafting, revising, and editing compositions derived from readings on the experience of American ethnic and racial groups to develop skills in narration, persuasion, analysis, and documentation. This section focused on Native people and the diverse identities and experiences that exist within Native nations, communities, histories, and intellectual traditions. Specifically, we looked at Native women, Native Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Trans and Two-Spirit identities, Native people with (dis)abilities, and Red-Black (African-Native American) experiences. We engaged with the subject matter by exploring various genres including theory, poetry, fiction, visual rhetorics, film, music, and theater. The use of interactive theater in the classroom was a common learning technique.

Writing: Men in America. (WRA 145). Michigan State University: Spring, 2006.

Writing: Men in America involves drafting, revising, and editing compositions (in a wide variety of genres) derived from readings on men in America to develop skills in narration, persuasion, analysis, and documentation and is a Tier One writing course at MSU. This section had a particular focus on the experiences of Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (GBTQ) identified men of color, "gender variant" people of color from a wide spectrum of gender expressions, constructions of masculinity, feminism, and anti-sexism.

Preparation for College Writing (WRA 1004/0102). Michigan State University: Fall, 2005.

Preparation for College Writing is a writing and reading course designed to help students develop critical and practical knowledge of writing in order to succeed in Tier One writing at MSU, other university courses, professional settings, and everyday life. The main goal of PCW is to introduce students to a range of general strategies for interpreting, assessing, and composing within particular rhetorical situations. This particular section included a focus on social justice.

Call Me Brother: Two-Spiritedness, the Erotic, and Mixedblood Identity as Sites of Sovereignty and Resistance in Gregory Scofield's Poetry (pdf). Speak to Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American Indian Poetry. Eds. Janice Gould and Dean Rader. Tucson: University of Arizona, 2003. 223-234.

Mothertongue: Incorporating Theatre of the Oppressed into Language Restoration Movements (pdf). Nurturing Native Languages. Eds. Jon Reyhner, Octaviana V. Trujillo, Roberto Luis Carrasco, and Louise Lockard. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona University, 2003. 155-163.

A Net-working Community: WIDE and the Rhetoric and Writing Graduate Program at Michigan State University (link). Co-Authored with Angela Haas, Bill Hart-Davidson, and Douglas Eyman. Currents in Electronic Literacy. Spring, 2007.

Stolen from Our Bodies: First Nations Two-Spirits/Queers and the Journey to a Sovereign Erotic (pdf). Studies in American Indian Literatures. 16.2. (2004): 50-64.

Theatre as Suture: Grassroots Performance, Decolonization and Healing (pdf). Aboriginal Oral Traditions: Theory, Practice, Ethics. Eds. Renate Eigenbrod and Renée Hulan, Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2008. 155-168.