Introduction to Native American Literature
Spring 2008
Instructor: Miriam Schacht
E-mail: schachtm@uwosh.edu
Office location: Radford 222
Office hours: Monday 2:30-5:30 and by appointment
Class meets MWF 12:40-1:40, Polk 21
This course is an introduction to traditions and innovations in Native American literature through textual analysis and an examination of cultural contexts. Because Native American writing has flourished in recent decades, our primary focus will be on contemporary literature; however, we will also read selections from earlier texts. We will explore how Native writers draw from a range of traditions, and how their works reflect histories of struggle both in style and content. Although written texts will form the core of the course, we will also examine other kinds of texts, including contemporary popular media, and their representations of Native peoples.
Required Texts (All Sections):
Thomas King (Cherokee), The Truth About Stories
N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), House Made of Dawn
Louise Erdrich (Anishinaabe), Tracks
Frances Washburn (Lakota), Elsie’s Business
Kathleen Tigerman (ed.), Wisconsin Indian Literature
One of the following, depending on your presentation group:
N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), The Way to Rainy Mountain; Sherman Alexie (Spokane), The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven; Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee), Kynship; Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo), Ceremony; Gerald Vizenor (Anishinaabe), The People Named the Chippewa; Richard Van Camp (Dogrib), The Lesser Blessed.
Other resources: The following books are on 24-hour reserve in the library, and may be of particular use in developing your papers and/or presentations.
Louis Owens, Other Destinies
Paula Gunn Allen, The Sacred Hoop
Craig Womack, Red on Red
Laura Coltelli, Winged Words
Note: If you are buying your books online, try using the metasearch engines www.bigwords.com or www.campusi.com to save money and time—they search multiple online bookstores for the books you want and give you the best prices (campusi only for individual books, bigwords allows you to search for several books to save on shipping as well).
For more information on English department courses, the English major, etc., the department webpage is at http://www.english.uwosh.edu/
Updated Jan. 31, 2008