Native Voices (Final year module)
Semester Fall
Programme description
This course will examine ways in which Native American writers have represented indigenous experience in what is now the United States. We will analyse diverse literary genres (origin myths, novels, life writing, and poetry) in order to determine what it means to be an “Indian writer.” Authors to be studied will include early writers such as the Mohegan Samson Occom and the Pequot William Apess, the Sioux writer Zitkala-Sa, the Kiowa poet novelist and autobiographer N. Scott Momaday, Laguna novelist Leslie Silko, Ojibwa poet and novelist Louise Erdrich, Spokane/Coeur d'Alene novelist Sherman Alexie, and poets Wendy Rose and Joy Harjo.
Pre-requisites
You must be a major in American Studies/Literature or similar with a cumulative GPA of 3.3
Assessment
The course is taught through weekly two-hour seminar discussions. Assessment consists of a research portfolio on a theme of the student's choice (30%), an essay of 3,500 words (60%) and by in- class participation (10%).
Credits
4