(DOWNLOAD) "Introduction to About Indigenous Literatures (Essay)" by CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Introduction to About Indigenous Literatures (Essay)
- Author : CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
- Release Date : January 01, 2011
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 80 KB
Description
At a time when some scholars and critics are calling into question the continuing value and relevance of comparative methodology, the thematic issue About Indigenous Literature in CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture focuses on the indisputable role the comparative paradigm plays now and will continue to play in the future. Such an approach offers priceless insights in many contexts, ranging from the sciences (for example, physiology and biology), across disciplines, cultures, and languages to the present discussion of Indigenous oral and written literatures. Authors of articles in this thematic issue examine the effectiveness of comparative methodology in meeting the challenge posed by crucial and complex questions such as what is Indigenous literature, what can be said about it, and by whom? How do Indigenous writers and scholars see non-Indigenous scholars, critics, writers, and readers relating to their work? Finally, and perhaps most germane from a literary perspective, how does one determine what is Indigenous literature without relying on the identity of the author--that is, without going outside the text and using paraliterary criteria to establish a literary category? The reason comparative methodology seems especially suited to a study of Indigenous literatures is that, because of the brutal impact of the colonial encounter, Indigenous collective identities have been heavily shaped by external factors, notably the governments of the so-called settler societies in which most Indigenous peoples now live. For example, pan-Indigenous identities are often the result of governments bringing different Indigenous groups together and treating them as if they were a single entity. The Anishnaabe writer and ethnologist Basil Johnston relates that it was during his years at a residential school that he came in contact with all sorts of Indigenous people, including members of the Anishnaabe's traditional enemies, the Mohawks, who used to refer to his people as Adirondacks or "Bark-eaters" (11). Not surprisingly, Indigenous identity tends to be constructed in response to government discourse, not the least the way (non-Indigenous) politicians and bureaucrats construct Indigenous people. Given the pervasive influence of such discourses, it becomes imperative that one be familiar with them and how they vary from country to country. However, this seems an impossible task without the comparative paradigm. As the Creek-Cherokee writer and scholar Craig Womack observes, despite the obvious similarities between Indigenous peoples in countries like the United States and Canada, who sometimes belong to the same nations, they have "markedly different" vocabularies. Moreover, even among scholars "very few people speak both these languages," which makes it a major challenge to teach courses with a transnational focus ("Native American" 198). For Womack, it is the absence of a common language among Indigenous scholars across North America (note: with "North America" in this case we refer to the U.S. and Canada) that explains the dearth of material on "literary relations or, more important, lack of relations, across the Canada-U.S. border" and why "in both countries we know so little of one another's work" ("Native American" 197). Indeed, Womack's piece appears in a Canadian collection of critical essays and other writings by North American Indigenous writers. Tellingly, the editors confide that they were extremely resistant to their publisher's suggestion that "our book include works by Americans in addition to Canadian Aboriginal scholars and authors," since they see little reciprocity across the international line. As they elaborate, "we felt strongly opposed to this recommendation at first because it had seemed to the editors that scholars south of the border, even Native American literary scholars, rarely paid attention to Canadian Aboriginal issues, never mind literary subjects" (DePasquale, Eigenbrod, LaRocque 11). Or, as a Cana
 "Introduction to About Indigenous Literatures (Essay)" by CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}