Greg Sarris
Gregory Michael Sarris (born February 12, 1959) is a college professor, author, producer, screenwriter, and a member and current Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. He was chosen in 2005 to fill the Endowed Chair in Native American Studies at Sonoma State University. The Chair was endowed by his tribe.
He was formerly the Fletcher Jones Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and a full professor at UCLA for ten years.
Life
Sarris was born in 1952 in Santa Rosa, California. According to Sarris, his birth father was not named on the birth certificate, but friends of his birth mother believed Emilio Hilario was his birth father.[1] Hilario's paternal grandfather was Filipino and his maternal grandparents were Tom and Emily Smith. Tom was Kashaya Pomo and Miwok.[2] Mary Bernadette "Bunny" Hartman, of Irish and German-Jewish descent, was his mother. He was adopted by a local couple, George and Mary Sarris.[3]
Sarris attended local schools through Santa Rosa Junior College, and received a B.A. in 1978 from UCLA, where he also played football. He worked in Hollywood as a model and actor before going to graduate school. He earned a Ph.D. in modern thought and literature at Stanford University in 1988, and returned to UCLA to teach in 1989.[4]
He co-produced an HBO movie, Grand Avenue with Robert Redford in 1996.[5]
The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
Sarris serves as Chairman of Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a federally recognized Indian tribe with offices in Rohnert Park, California.[6]
Published works
- Novels
- Watermelon Nights (1998)
- Short story collections
- Grand Avenue (1994)
- The Sound of Rattles and Clappers: a Collection of New California Indian Writing (1994) (as editor and contributor)
- Nonfiction
- Keeping Slug Woman Alive: A Holistic Approach to American Indian Texts (1993)
- Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream (1994)
- Approaches to Teaching the Works of Louise Erdrich (2004)
NAMS165 reader for Sonoma State University
See also
Notes
- ↑ Sarris, 141-2
- ↑ Sarris, 142-3
- ↑ Sarris, 47, 140
- ↑ "Greg Sarris & the Native American Literature", Contemporary Authors Online, The Gale Group, 2000.
- ↑ "Grand Avenue." Internet Movie Database. (retrieved 19 Feb 2010)
- ↑ Federal Register Notice at 74 FR 40219, dated August 11, 2009.
References
- Sarris, Greg. Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. ISN 0-520-20968-0.
Further reading
- Elvira Pulitano, Toward a Native American Critical Theory. 2005. Sarris is one of six authors whose work is surveyed.
|