Native Storytelling and Indigenous Literature

Catalog description

This course is designed to help students gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the diversity of the Native American experience today and in the past. We will pay particular attention to literature written by contemporary American Indian women and to issues of culture, gender and identity as they surface in the poetry, fiction, autobiography we read. From creation stories, to the book acclaimed as the first Native American novel (Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko), to the controversial essays of Lakota scholar Vine Deloria, and spoken word of John Trudell, students will explore the meaning and significance of community, ceremony, healing and storytelling. Other authors include Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne/Muscogee), Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee), and Linda Hogan (Choctaw).