Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

The intensive study of selected works of aboriginal writers. May be organized by author, genre, or critical approach. Students with credit for ENGL 453 may not take this course for further credit. Writing.

COURSE DETAILS:

English 453W: At the Crossroads: Indigenous and Black Writings in Canada

Recent discussions have drawn attention to the points of connection between Indigenous decolonization and Black social justice movements. Efforts have been made to reveal how the making of the Americas and the establishment of a settler colonial social order have depended upon the expropriation of land on the one hand, and the appropriation of labour, bodies, and lives on the other. Just as important have been the warnings not to assume that the problems and solutions that have been offered in these very different debates are transferrable across communities. While conversations about place, belonging, and embodiment have unfolded very differently in Black and Indigenous studies to date, the cultural production in question continue to attest to these intersecting histories. Yet the challenge to build viable critical frameworks that compare histories of occupation and resistance remains an urgently needed and relatively underthematized thread in critical discussions. In this course you will read the work of contemporary Indigenous writers, including Leanne Simpson, Marie Clements, Katherena Vermette, and Billy-Ray Belcourt, in relationship to work by Black writers such as Dionne Brand, Wayde Compton, and Juliane Okot Bitek, as they strive to make connections across differences as well as to assert a politics of difference, urging readers to pay close attention to cultural and social specificities.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

·       to read, interpret, and creatively engage with texts by Indigenous authors in relationship to texts by Black authors
·       to understand significant developments and movements in Black and Indigenous literary studies
·       to analyze texts and films across a range of genres and media
·       to synthesize and evaluate a range of critical approaches to literature, particularly Indigenous literary nationalism, Black diaspora, anti-racist coalition-building, decolonization, and resurgence.
·       to recognize complex relationships between texts and contexts (historical, social, cultural, literary)
·       to acknowledge the diversity and complexity of Indigenous and Black literary and cultural production in a variety of forms and formats.

Grading

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

Please purchase Katherena Vermette's book The Break. It is available in print and digital copies, but it is only available in print at SFU Library. It is also available electronically through the Vancouver Public Library (vpl.ca), and may be available as ebook at other local libraries. It is also available at many local bookstores and as a kindle book through amazon or other outlets. 

Marie Clements's play Burning Vision and Juliane Okot Bitek's book of poetry, 100 Days, are available electronically at SFU library.

All other readings will be available electronically through Canvas.

REQUIRED READING: