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Indigeneity and Early American Literature
- Author(s):
- Andrew Newman (see profile)
- Date:
- 2017
- Group(s):
- American Literature, Indigenous Studies
- Subject(s):
- American literature, Indigenous peoples, Indian literature
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- american literature, indigeneity, Native American literature
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6622F
- Abstract:
- Four conceptualizations of the relationship between indigeneity and early American literature provide a basis for this history and its historiography. Three of these pertain to cultural works produced at least in part by Native Americans: these are (1) written representations of Native American spoken performances, or “oral literature”; (2) writings that register various degrees of participation in literacy practices by Native American converts to Christianity; and (3) cultural works that employ non-alphabetic indigenous sign-systems, or “indigenous literacies.” These formulations variously challenge conventional ideas about literature and related terms such as authorship and writing; in the case of the Christian Indians, they can also challenge notions of indigeneity. A fourth conceptualization of the relationship between indigeneity and early American literature is premised on narrow definitions of these seemingly antithetical terms: it pertains to the aesthetic project of some settler-colonial authors who hoped to connect their prose and verse works to the domestic landscape, to assert their cultural independence from England, and to enact the replacement of Native American cultural traditions with their own.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Online publication
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 6 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
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indigeneity.docx