Languages and Literature Lecture Examines Spiro Mounds

TAHLEQUAH The Northeastern State University College of Liberal Arts Department of Languages and Literature will host guest lecturer David La Vere, professor of history at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, on Friday, Nov. 7, at 3 p.m. in the University Center Redbud Room.

The first in a series of guest lectures hosted by the Department of Languages and Literature will focus on the looting of Spiro Mounds, a significant American Indian historical site located in northeastern Oklahoma. The lecture is free and open to the public.

In his talk Writing Spiro, La Vere will discuss the American Indian people who created the great Mississippian ceremonial center at Spiro Mounds in eastern Oklahoma on the Arkansas River, as well as the looting of the mounds back in the mid-1930s, and how he tried to weave these two stories together using both historical writing and creative non-fiction.

La Vere teaches American Indian History at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He received his Ph.D. in History from Texas A&M University, and has written five books on American Indians, including two from the University of Oklahoma Press: Looting Spiro Mounds and Contrary Neighbors: Removed Indians and Plains Indians in Indian Territory.

La Vere's presentation is also part of the NSU Living Literature Centers Fall 2008 seminar, dealing with the Old West. Students may participate in the seminar, scheduled Nov. 7-8 for one-hour credit in English (English 4931/5651). For more information, contact Dr. Christopher Malone, ext. 6575, or email malonect@nsuok.edu.

10/15/2008

Published: 2008-10-15 00:00:00