Honors Program: A pathway to excellence.

HONR 100/300 Possible Futures in Native American Literature

Seeking to address the misconception that Native American culture is a predominantly historical formation, this class will pair contemporary literary texts with earlier, seminal texts in Native American studies. Through this approach, we’ll look back to look forward in order to attend to the vibrancy of Native American literary traditions. Our contemporary texts will primarily emerge from the realm of science fiction/speculative literature in order to assess how our course authors are imagining possible futures.

For their final project, students will create an exhibit in the library that showcases the development of Native American Literature over time. Depending on enrollment, this project may be completed in teams. Each project will represent a particular literary epoch or movement; students will be asked to provide small placards explaining the timeframe of the movement, key figures, and select three representative items from the library’s holdings to display. Their work will incorporate physical library holdings, images, and text.

TENTATIVE CLASS READINGS
Fiction
Dimaline, Cherie. The Marrow Thieves
Erdrich, Louise. Future Home of the Living God
Hogan, Linda. excerpt from Power
Jones, Stephen Graham. Selected Short Stories
Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection vol. 3
Wilson, Daniel H. “Freshee’s Frogurt”
Welch, James. Selections
Selected stories from oral traditions
Criticism
LeAnne Howe “The Story of America: A Tribalology”
excerpts from Daniel Heath Justice Why Indigenous Literatures Matter
excerpts from Vine Deloria Jr.
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Substitutions:
gen ed: LIT 165
300-level: LIT 339

Instructor: Dr. Laura Wright

Time: Spring 2022, Block 7.