Native American Literatures

Catalog description

This course will focus on prose, poetry, and oral storytelling by a small sample of Native American writers and storytellers from different tribal nations. It's important to understand that we are barely getting a glimpse of a vast world of Native American studies and literature. As it would be impossible to cover the entire field in one semester, this course will instead orient students to this very rich field so-they can knowledgeably continue exploring on their own. A significant part of the course's work will be to situate these readings in their social, historical, and cultural contexts, while also considering how story telling itself helps to both create and reflect the cultural worldviews of the creators. Themes we will explore in the texts include (but are not limited to): The long-term effects of colonialism and ongoing colonization; Indigenous conceptions of and relations to land, other beings, and the cosmos; U.S. policy and government relations with tribal nations throughout history; Gender relations and complementarity in Native societies; Native sovereignty and political rights; and Appropriation of Native cultures.