Indigenous Studies
Term 2
TTh, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
This course will critically engage the works of contemporary Indigenous authors from both Canada and the United States with a comparative perspective situated in the broad field of Indigenous studies. We will read a variety of poetry, short fiction, non-fiction, and novels as well as criticism in Indigenous studies. The organizing questions for this particular semester are: What is the relationship between activism and contemporary Indigenous literature? How have Indigenous writers used popular literary forms to intervene in American or Canadian discourses about Native peoples? How do Indigenous scholars and writers contextualize contemporary narratives culturally, politically and historically? How do they address sovereignty, self-determination, decolonization and resurgence in their work? What makes a work “activist” literature? We will address themes taken up in Indigenous literature such as carcerality, gender and sexual violence, decolonial love, and resistance. Texts may include the following:
- Tekahionwake: Pauline Johnson’s Writings on Native America edited by Dory Nason and Margery Fee
- The Surrounded by D’Arcy McNickle
- The Round House by Louise Erdrich
- Birdie by Tracey Lindberg
- Slash by Jeanette Armstrong
- Islands of Decolonial Love by Leanne Simpson
- Solar Storms by Linda Hogan
