ENGL 53.25 Contemporary Native American Poetry

Muscogee poet, Joy Harjo has stated that Native Peoples are "…still dealing with a holocaust of outrageous proportion in these lands…Many of us…are using the 'enemy language' with which to tell our truths, to sing, to remember ourselves during these troubled times."  This course examines the ways contemporary American Indian and other indigenous poets employ literary gestures of resistance and creativity to outlive the ongoing effects of colonialism. We explore how their poetry contributes to the reclamation and continuity of tribal memory and the regeneration of tribal traditions and communities. Our course includes lyric voices from the reservation, from the city, and from indigenous spaces in dyasporic and global contexts.  We will examine the combined influences that oral tradition, ritual life, and tribal values have on these contemporary poets. The indigenous poetic voice occupies a unique position in contemporary American poetry, but also in the discourse of settler colonialism. This course traces how the themes of these poetic voices bring forward images of past and contemporary experience, to craft a poetic tradition that is distinctly indigenous. Open to all classes.  

Cross Listed Courses

NAIS 047

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:LIT; WCult:CI

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Department-Specific Course Categories

Course Group III