20801207World Indigenous Literatures
Course Information
Description
World Indigenous Literatures studies indigenous themes and issues in an international context by comparing literatures, films, and other texts produced by Native Peoples from all over the world, including the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. The selection of oral and written materials represents the culture and art of Indigenous groups that originally inhabited any geographical area prior to the arrival of settler-colonial people.
Total Credits
3
Course Competencies
  1. Analyze the major cultural, historical, political, rhetorical, and literary conditions that have shaped contemporary indigenous texts and nations
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Identify conditions that indigenous authors had to overcome in order to begin and continue to publish their works
    Assess the place of major figures in indigenous textual traditions
    Describe the present scope of indigenous
    Examine indigenous texts critically through the lenses of indigenous critical theories, postcolonial theories, and other appropriate literary theories

  2. Articulate the ideas, images, themes, motifs shared by indigenous writers
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Identify major themes and rhetorical devices used in the traditions
    Apply reading strategies to respond to texts
    Apply critical terminology in the discussion of texts
    Generate comparisons between works by authors of different tribal groups
    Explore Native American traditions in the US as a part of global indigenous cultures and politics

  3. Discuss cultural and political issues involved in world indigenous literary canon formation
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Define the concept and uses of a literary canon
    Identify relevant cultural, historical, geographical and political issues involved in indigenous canon formation

  4. Analyze authorial relationship with different audiences, both inside and outside the author's cultural group
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Analyze the relationship between dominant and marginalized traditions
    Assess popular and critical reception of texts
    Articulate processes involved in adapting text to film and in web and digital representation of indigenous issues
    Analyze the significance of indigenous language preservation and language sovereignty as reflected in the texts

  5. Explore how indigenous writers simultaneously participate in a dynamic traditional culture and contemporary "westernized" culture
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Identify local and national issues connected to and affecting indigenous peoples
    Compare authorial strategies for negotiating identity in different settings, such as reservation and urban environments

  6. Examine human equality, shared humanity and international human rights in the literature and in activist discourse around indigenous rights
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Identify inconsistencies in equality, humanity and human rights
    Examine indigenous activist discourse and activist movements
    Portray equality, humanity and human rights through an indigenous perspective

  7. Explain the value and contribution of oral traditions in the production of indigenous literature both past and present
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Recognize the definition of oral culture and its characteristics in indigenous oral tales
    Contrast oral with written literatures to discern the fundamental differences between them
    Summarize the influence of oral traditions on contemporary written literature by indigenous authors

  8. Identify the discourses, rhetoric, and conceptual frameworks through which indigenous peoples have been defined exogenously by settler-colonial peoples
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Explain how indigenous authors treat settler-colonial narratives of indigenous peoples
    Express the various literary methods through which indigenous authors critique settler-colonial narratives
    Contrast indigenous and settler-colonial narratives within indigenous literatures

  9. Investigate the theoretical underpinnings of indigeneity both within and beyond indigenous literatures
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Examine theories rooted in indigeneity, including concepts of personhood, sovereignty, survivance, and land
    Identify the presence of indigenous theories within indigenous literatures in both form and content
    Assess contributions of indigenous theoretical frameworks for life and culture outside indigenous literatures and communities