Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines works of popular fiction by Indigenous authors and their use of specific genres (e.g. the mystery novel, vampire thriller, sci fi, comic book). Students with credit for ENGL 360, INDG (or FNST) 322 under this topic, or FNST 360 may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course examines several examples of popular fiction, written by Indigenous authors, to ask several questions: How do works of Indigenous literature negotiate the discourses of authenticity that narrowly define how an Indigenous person ought to look and act? While Indigenous characters are usually present in Westerns, how does it change the expectations of the genre if the Private Investigator in a work of hard-boiled detective fiction is Cherokee or if the time traveler in a Science Fiction story is Anishinaabe? How does it affect our readings of Speculative Fiction if the writer considers the current moment to be post-apocalyptic? Can culturally understood ways of storytelling adopt the techniques of a mainstream genre and still reflect Indigenous traditions? How does our theoretical lens, as well as our knowledge (or lack of knowledge) of Indigenous histories and cultures, affect our interpretation of a text?

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

• students will be able to list the generic markers of various categories of popular fiction (e.g., the YA novel, detective fiction, the gothic novel, speculative fiction).
• students will be able to recognize and assess how Indigenous authors can use and/or subvert genre expectations as a way to critique and engage with specific Indigenous epistimologies.
• students will be able to recognize and analyze how stereotypes function, especially those about Indigenous peoples in lands claimed by Canada. 
• students will be able to employ skills in pre-writing, drafting and revising strategies to improve academic essay-writing.

Grading

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

• The Case of Windy Lake (2019) by Michael Hutchinson Dreadful Water (2003; 2017) by Thomas King
• Monkey Beach (2001) by Eden Robinson
• The Marrow Thieves (2017) by Cherie Dimaline
• Weird Rules to Follow (2022) by Kim Spencer 
• a selection of short stories, book excerpts, and films by authors including Vera Manuel, Daniel Heath Justice, Harold Johnson, Kai Minosh Pyle, Chelsea Vowel and films by Danis Goulet and Helen Haig-Brown.
• Also, sections of Catherine Parr Traill’s Canadian Crusoes (1852) will be provided in class and is available at: https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.26500/5

REQUIRED READING NOTES: