20801207World Indigenous Literatures
Course Information
Description
World Indigenous Literatures compares Native American Literature with the literatures of Indigenous peoples around the world (e.g. Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe, Australasia, 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 peoples with a central focus on how these materials place US Ethnic issues within a global context.
Total Credits
3
Course Competencies
  1. Compare US Indigenous literatures with the literatures of Indigenous peoples around the world
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Identify the presence of global indigenous issues within US Indigenous cultural materials
    Assess the relevance of US Indigenous cultural materials for a contemporary understanding of Indigenous texts and issues worldwide

  2. Analyze the major cultural, historical, political, rhetorical, and literary conditions of US Indigenous literatures in a comparative context with international Indigenous authors and texts
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Compare the cultural, historical, political, rhetorical, and literary conditions of US Indigenous peoples with Indigenous peoples around the world (at least 50% focused on US Indigenous Peoples)
    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

  3. Articulate the ideas, images, themes, and motifs shared by US and international Indigenous writers
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Identify Native American literatures in the US as a part of global Indigenous cultures and politics (at least 50% focused on US Indigenous literatures)
    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

  4. Apply international indigenous ethnic concerns to US Indigenous peoples’ experience of race, racial inequality, and ethnicity
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Articulate how international racial history provides a broader understanding of US Indigenous ethnicity and inequalities
    Identify how international Indigenous concerns contribute to a more complex understanding of cultural assumptions and knowledge claims around US Indigenous peoples
    Demonstrate empathy and self-awareness around the cultural perspectives and worldviews of Indigenous peoples

  5. 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
    Compare authorial relationship of US Indigenous writers with Indigenous writers around the world (at least 50% focused on US Indigenous writers)
    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

  6. 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
    Compare the “westernization”/tradition dynamic between US Indigenous peoples and Indigenous peoples globally (at least 50% focused on US Indigenous Peoples)
    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

  7. 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
    Compare discourses of equality, humanity, and human rights of US Indigenous authors to Indigenous authors around the world (at least 50% focused on US Indigenous authors)
    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

  8. 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
    Compare and contrast the orality of US Indigenous and international Indigenous authors (at least 50% focused on US Indigenous oral texts)
    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

  9. 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
    Compare and contrast settler-colonialism as represented within US and global Indigenous texts (at least 50% focused on US Indigenous texts)
    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

  10. Investigate the theoretical underpinnings of indigeneity both within and beyond indigenous literatures
    Assessment Strategies
    Project, test, journal, written product and/or presentation
    Criteria
    Compare US and international Indigenous authors through an indigenous theoretical framework (at least 50% focused on US Indigenous authors)
    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