Native American and First Nations women’s literatures are complex records of Native peoples’ resilience and perseverance as well as sites of dynamic creativity. Though literature has long been a tool used by Native peoples to increase visibility around certain political and cultural issues, Native American women writers today are shaping an impressive body of work that includes poetry, short fiction, and the novel. Some, such as Louise Erdrich (Anishinaabe), Joy Harjo (Mvskoke), Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo) are internationally known, read, and studied. Others, such as Beth Brant (Mohawk) and Anna Lee Walters (Pawnee), have not received as much recognition or mainstream critical attention for their work. In this course, students will be introduced to literatures of Native American and First Nations women. They will learn to closely and critically read, discuss, and analyze these works by exploring literary language (eg., rhetorical and performative) and the power of imagery. The class will examine Native American histories while guiding participants in their development of a comprehensive framework to identify unique traits and tropes found in Native American women’s writing, as well as understand the emergence of distinct Native American literary perspectives. Topics in this course include: the art of writing, cultural sovereignty, survivance, geo-physical locations of cultural groups, Indigenous feminisms, and representations of Native American gender and sexuality.
- Teacher: Brook Colley