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Red Ribbon From Aonbo Microphone From Melinda Maxwell-Gibb

About Me:: Mixed-blood native american (Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw) from Alabama. Have lived in Puerto Rico for 21 years and am currently an ESL instructor and PhD candidate in Anglophone Caribbean Literature and culture at the University of PR, Rio Piedras campus. I am the host of radio WOSO's Saturday morning call-in program,"The Garden Show," which deals specifically with organic growing and the environment (et.al) in San Juan, PR and an advocate for the Federal recoginition of the Echota Cherokee and MOWA Choctaw in my native state of Alabama.

Education:: - Professional Diploma - Music Produciton and Audio Engineering: Berklee College of Music; Boston, MA (1986) (Master's engineering degree - High Honorable).
-BA Elementary Education (ESL): InterAmerican University; Barranquitas, PR (1998). Magna Cum Laude
- MA English Literature (Victorian Poetry and The Novel); Rio Piedras: University of Puerto Rico (2004). Magna Cum Laude
- PhD Candidate in Anglophone Caribbean Literature. Rio Piedras: University of Puerto Rico

Contact Information:: Melinda Maxwell-Gibb
HC-01 Box 5580
Orocovis, PR 00720

(787) 867-3188

wolfspirit_mm@yahoo.com
wolfspiritmm@gmail.com

Research Interests:: * circum-caribbean indigenous resurgence (identity and representation)
* contemporary indigenous non-fiction/fiction writers, poets, musicians, artisans and tribal members willing to share their experiences.
*Have done field research in Dominica and St. Vincent (my primary focus to date being the Carib nations) and look forward to expanding to the Taino and other circum-caribbean Arawakan tribes.
* Would like to do more intensive research in Dominica, St. VIncent, Belize, Honduras, Guiana, Cuba, the Bahamas and Trinidad &Tobago (actually in any locale that identifies as Carib or Arawak).

Publications:: MA Thesis:
Ave Atque Vale: The Influence of Charles Baudelaire on the Poetry of A.C. Swinburne. UP Puerto Rico, 2004.

“Wendigo, Canaima, Caníbal: A Journey Into the World of Amerindian Shape-Shifting.” Double Voicing and Multiplex Identities: Unpacking Hegemonic and Subaltern Discourses in the Caribbean. ED. Nicholas Faraclas, Ronald Severing, Christa Weijer, Elisabeth Echteld, Marsha Hinds-Layne. Willemstad, Curacao: FPI & Universidat de Korsou, 2012. 445-49.

“A Literary Journey – The Caribs of Dominica: Survival, Resistance and Resurgence.” Sargasso:25 Interviews of Celebrating Caribbean Voices: 2010-2011- Special Issue. San Juan:Sargasso & Editorial Tiempo Nuevo, 2011. 36-48.

“The Moon Has A Dirty Face: An Exploration Into the Migration of an Amerindian Origin Myth.” Anansi’s Defiant Webs: Contact, Continuity, Convergence, and Complexity in the Languages, Literatures, and Cultures of the Greater Caribbean. ED. Nicholas Faraclas,Ronald Severing, Christa Weijer, Elisabeth Echteld, Marsha Hinds-Layne. Willemstad,Curacao: FPI & Universidat de Korsou, 2011. 337-45.

“Survival, Resistance and Resurgence:Reclaiming Our Own ‘Utterances’.” In A Sea of Hetroglossia: Pluri-Lingualism, Pluri-Culturalism, and Pluri-Identification in the Caribbean. Ed. Nicholas Faraclas, Ronald Severing, Christa Weijer, Elisabeth Echteld, Marsha Hinds-Layne, Elena Lawton de Torruella. Curacao: FPI & UNA, 2010. 369-75.

At 3:46pm on November 19, 2009, Melinda Maxwell-Gibb added a gift to their profile…: Microphone
If you live in Puerto Rico, please tune in to 1030 on your AM dial - Saturday mornings from 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. for Garden Show.
From the Gift Store

At 12:06am on September 26, 2008, Miguel Sague Jr said…: This is the sacred song of Ata bey the Cosmic matriarch Earth mother and water mother

sound file

AtaBey_Song.wav

text file lyrics:
SONG_TO_ATA_BEY.doc

Song of Yoka Hu the celestial father spirit, the spirit of Life and Energy, the spirit of the Sun and the soul of the yuca plant

sound file
Yoka_Hu_song.wav

text file lyrics:
SONG_TO_YOKA_HU.doc

Song dedicated to the spirits of the four directions South, West, North and East

sound file:
Four_Directions_Song.wav

text file lyrics:

SONG_OF_THE_FOUR_DIRECTIONS.doc

Song dedicated to the fact that the menstrual cycle that manifests in the body of human women is reflected in the monthly lunar cycle of the Cosmic Mother

Sound file:

Sacred_Words_of_the_Mon_Ceremony.wav

text file lyrics
SONG_OF_THE_FULL_MOON_CEREMONY.doc

At 2:03pm on August 15, 2008, AkuTurey said…: Was it you who told me that during the Trail of Tears that many fled to Cuba?

At 2:01pm on August 15, 2008, AkuTurey said…: Hello!Would you join us at my page discussion on DNA?-the latest study should have everybody talking,but I don't hear them!!-well,I this is so interesting as it implys that there are MUCH more Haplogroup "A"s than C",which is the predominant where Caribbean Indians originate from!-type "A" is EASTERN U.S.,Mexico! Thanks,Frank AkuTurey

At 5:56pm on July 30, 2008, AkuTurey said…: I am impressed-actually,I am very impressed with so many people on this site-I have never been on a site with so many intelligent people on it-it feels great! Take care,
FrankAkuTurey

At 5:15pm on May 20, 2008, Maximilian Forte said…: Hi Melinda, although I am tempted to call you Maxx--the question of American Indian slaves exported to the Caribbean is one that I have been interested in a for a long time, but lack the resources to do a really serious study which would take years. Otherwise, there is plenty scattered about in various archives in the US, esp. in connection with King Phillips War. Also, on the CAC there is a paper on American Indians exported to Barbados. There are Seminole descendants in the Bahamas and a book was recently published on that--I think this was also advertised on The CAC Review and I have a very much overdue review to write about it. So there is some published information. Also, there is a Louisiana online archive that documents indigenous Caribbean slaves imported into the US, the opposite direction, and again that is mentioned early on in The CAC Review.

At 2:10pm on May 20, 2008, oronde ash said…: hello there. i am a vincentian living abroad the last 23 yrs. i grew up in the US. never taken the time to study svg history in detail. always wanted to write a history book for young kids back home. what's out there? where has your research taken you? i was born in barrouallie. you been there?

At 5:45pm on May 19, 2008, Maximilian Forte said…: Melinda, I was wondering if you could help me with one question, and it's your profile above that reminded me. The last US Census showed something like 12,000 people in Puerto Rico checking the "American Indian" (or is "Native American"?) box on their census returns. I was wondering if this meant that 12,000 people migrated to Puerto Rico from the mainland, and are American Indians, or whether it means that Puerto Ricans are identifying as American Indian in the absence of a "Taino" category. Can there really be that many American Indian persons who moved to Puerto Rico?

At 2:18am on May 19, 2008, Lesley-Ann Brown said…: Definitely! I just started editing an interview my son did with the Puerto Rican poet Tony Medina. When I'm done I'll send it to you! I look forward to talking poetry with you!
All the best,
lab