Transcript title

Native American Lit/Culture

Credits

4

Grading mode

Standard letter grades

Total contact hours

40

Lecture hours

40

Recommended preparation

WR 121Z.

Course Description

Introduction to traditional oral and contemporary Native American texts with an emphasis on cultural contexts and continuity. Considers Native American works in their national, historical, cultural, geographical, political, and legal contexts.

Course learning outcomes

1. Explain broad features of the history and experience of Native Americans in the United States and situate individual texts within that history.
2. Identify and analyze common and/or recurring themes in Native American literature and culture, such as: generational conflict; the American Dream; cultural identity; the journey motif; accommodation and assimilation; conflict with dominant American culture and ethics; media representations.
3. Analyze and interpret Native American texts representing a range of geographical origins, cultural traditions, and experiences.
4. Apply disciplinary knowledge specific to the humanities, including textual analysis and close-reading practices, to the treatment of events, issues, and/or ideas and identify how that knowledge differs from the approach of another academic discipline.
5. Synthesize multiple viewpoints and perspectives, including one’s own, in order to critically analyze values, ethics, and other relevant topics within a range of human experience and expression.

Content outline

1. Native American History and Culture
   1. Pre-Contact
   2. First Contact
   3. Tribal Histories
   4. Trail of Tears
   5. Treaties
   6. Reservations
   7. Indian Boarding Schools
   8. Urban Indians
2. Oral Traditions and Myths
   1. Trickster Tales
   2. Animal Tales
   3. Cultural Hero Tales
   4. Origin Emergence Stories
3. Literature by Native American Writers
   1. Novels
   2. Poetry
   3. Short Stories
   4. Plays
   5. Non-Fiction Texts
      1. Essays
      2. Memoirs
      3. Scholarship
   6. Multimodal Works by Native Peoples
      1. Music
      2. Dance
      3. Film

Required materials

This course may require one of more books or textbooks.

General education/Related instruction lists

• Cultural Literacy
• Arts and Letters