Native American Writers 3301-LA1211

A survey course examining works by contemporary Native American writers. At the beginning of the semester students read transcripts of selected traditional Native American oral narratives and poems (stories of origin, emergence stories, culture hero stories, samples of lyrical and ritualistic poetry). The purpose of this introduction is to acquaint the students with the traditional themes of Native American literature (nature, the place of humans in the natural world, the sacredness of space, Native American cosmology, etc) as well as with certain historical problems of transcription and textualization (as well as translation) of a tradition that used to be transmitted orally. Students are also required to read excerpts from historical accounts in order to become familiar with the history of the extermination of Native American peoples (especially the last decades of the 19th century, the events known as The Trail of Tears, Wounded Knee Massacre, the battle of Four Lakes). Subsequently, the course examines selected novels, stories and poems by contemporary Native American writers, such as Navarre Scott Momaday, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko, and others. The basic problems include: the issue of identity and marginalization, the clash of traditional Native American lifestyle and culture (still in existence in reservations) and contemporary, 'postmodern' American lifestyles, the theme of mourning and loss as well as historical trauma, the use of traditional narrative techniques in contemporary writings (storytelling, songs, poems etc), gender, sexuality, nature, ecology, vision quest, religion and spiritualityRequirements: attendance, active participation in class discussions, presentations, response-papers (four times in a semester).

Reading list:
A Good Day to Die, dir. David Mueller, Lynn Salt (2010)
N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), from House Made of Dawn (1968)
Leslie Marmon Silko, “Landscape, History, and the Pueblo Imagination,” from The Woman That I Am (1997)
Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux), “Sacred Places and Moral Responsibility” in God is Red: A Native View of Religion (1994)
Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo) “Towards Native American Nationalism”(1981)
Craig Womack (Creek/Cherokee), from Red On Red: Native American Literary Separatism (1999)
LeAnne Howe (Choctaw), “The Story of America: Tribalography,” from Choctalking on Other Realities (2013)
Louise Erdrich (Anishinaabe), Tracks (1988)
Reel Injun, dir. Neil Diamond (Cree) and Catherine Bainbridge (2009)
Leslie Marmon Silko, “Mistaken Identity” and “Old Pancakes,” from Almanac of the Dead (1991) [reprinted in Reckonings]
Jimmie Durham (Cherokee), “Geronimo!“ from Partial Recall: Photographs of Native Americans (1992)
Leslie Marmon Silko, “The Indian with a Camera” from Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit (1996)
Smoke Signals, dir. Chris Eyre (Arapaho) (1998)
Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d’Alene), “Dear John Wayne,” from The Toughest Indian in the World (2000)
Susan Lobo, “Is Urban a Person or a Place? Characteristics of Urban Country,” from American Indians and the Urban Experience, ed. Susan Lobo and Kurt Peters (2001)
Sherman Alexie, “Lawyer’s League,” “Flight Patterns” from Ten Little Indians (2003) and “Class” from The Toughest Indian in the World (2000)
Gerald Vizenor (Anishinaabe), “Tragic Wisdom” from Fugitive Poses: Native American Scenes of Absence and Presence (1998)
Gerald Vizenor, chapters from Dead Voices (1992)
Frances Washburn (Lakota/Anishinaabe), Elsie’s Business (2006)