ENGL 661 Native American Literature

This graduate course examines some of the ways in which Native American writers express their cultural traditions through literature. Readings include contemporary fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, as well as traditional stories and songs. Special attention is given to how these texts help us to better understand and explain the relationships between human beings and the natural world in Native American cultures, including concepts of power, systems of tribal thought and ethics, and culturally based ways of knowing. Problems in cross-cultural understanding, the complex roles of race and ethnicity in defining identity, and competing issues of cultural adaptation, cultural accommodation, and cultural appropriation, are addressed throughout the course. Gender and class, elements closely connected to race and culture, are also frequent topics of discussion.

3 Credit(s)