Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

1. Recognize the diversity and vitality of Native American experiences and expressions.
2. Identify how a variety of Native literatures are influenced by the historical tensions between the United States and the Native peoples of this continent.
3. Trace the incorporation of traditional Native stories or characters into the narrative production of contemporary writers.
4. Recognize the influence of Indigenous languages, cultures, worldviews, legal histories, and intellectual traditions upon the literary productions of Native writers.
5. Explain how various perceptions of Indigenous identity and nationhood shape Native literatures and scholarship.

To provide a positive and productive educational experience for PCC students by building bridges between peoples, by respecting the sovereignty and worldviews of Indigenous nations, and by honoring and supporting Native communities. To educate and empower students to communicate in ways that demonstrate respect for Indigenous contexts, histories, and futures.

For both face-to-face and online classes, course activities will include reading and preparation for class, group discussion (either in person or online), lectures and presentations, small group discussions, inquiry projects, informal and formal writings, viewing and listening to video and audio recordings, and perhaps some guest speakers, all in the service of analyzing works of writing by Native American and Indigenous authors. 

Instructors vary on methods of assessment, but students will generally be assessed in response to their labor as members of the class community. In this context, student “labor” refers to all aspects of class participation, including time spent preparing for class (e.g., reading, annotating, researching); work products such as student writing (e.g, reading journals, informal responses, formal essays, summary-response papers); and active and respectful participation in classroom and/or online discussions.

Some of the central concepts of the course include:

• The importance of recognition.  All the primary texts read and discussed in this class are produced by Native American writers.  To be considered a Native American writer, an individual must be recognized by their Native communities as a tribal or community member.  English 240 does not study works produced by non-Native writers about Native themes.
• “Native American literatures” is unique among the families of literature produced in the United States in that it is commonly described in the plural: “literatures.”  This plurality recognizes the inherent diversity of Native experience, nationhood, language, and culture.  Although no single class could possibly introduce students to the entirety of Native literary expressions across all times and places, English 240 recognizes and respects the long-standing diversity of Native verbal arts by considering “literatures” in the plural and by exploring a range of texts from different times, places, media, and languages.
• Native American literatures have existed for thousands of years, forming the foundations of narrative, performance, and expressive culture in what is now the United States.  However, contemporary ideas about “Native American literatures” in English are a relatively recent development.  Native authors have been writing and publishing in English since the 18thcentury, including a wave of creativity in the late-20th century often referred to as the “American Indian Renaissance.”  Course readings or viewings may include a range of works produced in Native languages, but the primary emphasis of study is contemporary work written or performed in English.