Why Indigenous Literatures Matter, Daniel Heath Justice
Why Indigenous Literatures Matter, Daniel Heath Justice
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Why Indigenous Literatures Matter

Author: Daniel Heath Justice

Narrator: Daniel Heath Justice

Unabridged: 9 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/30/2021


Synopsis

Part survey of the field of Indigenous literary studies, part cultural history, and part literary polemic, Why Indigenous Literatures Matter asserts the vital significance of literary expression to the political, creative, and intellectual efforts of Indigenous peoples today. Selected as an Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Community Read by the Association of University Presses.
In considering the connections between literature and lived experience, this book contemplates four key questions at the heart of Indigenous kinship traditions: How do we learn to be human? How do we become good relatives? How do we become good ancestors? How do we learn to live together? Blending personal narrative and broader historical and cultural analysis with close readings of key creative and critical texts, Justice argues that Indigenous writers engage with these questions in part to challenge settler-colonial policies and practices that have targeted Indigenous connections to land, history, family, and self. More importantly, Indigenous writers imaginatively engage the many ways that communities and individuals have sought to nurture these relationships and project them into the future.
This provocative volume challenges readers to critically consider and rethink their assumptions about Indigenous literature, history, and politics while never forgetting the emotional connections of our shared humanity and the power of story to effect personal and social change. Written with a generalist reader firmly in mind, but addressing issues of interest to specialists in the field, this book welcomes new audiences to Indigenous literary studies while offering more seasoned readers a renewed appreciation for these transformative literary traditions.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Debbie on March 22, 2018

Teachers and librarians will gain immensely by reading this book. What they learn will help them do a better job at preparing instructional materials and/or selecting (and deselecting) materials in a library. Writers will gain a lot, too, about their biases. Are they, for example, creating stories th......more

Goodreads review by Bina on February 08, 2019

Amazing, with great recs for Indigenous writers.......more

Goodreads review by Feral on February 03, 2022

You πŸ‘ don't πŸ‘ have πŸ‘ to πŸ‘ be impenetrable πŸ‘ to πŸ‘ do πŸ‘ significant πŸ‘ scholarship πŸ‘. Reading this was immensely useful and a pleasure to read.......more

Goodreads review by Jenna on April 28, 2020

April 26 2020: Almost two years to do the day since I first picked this book, I started reading it once again during Dewey's April Readathon and this time I finished it! May 8 2018: Will have to finish this when I get back from my summer job, as the library there doesn’t have a copy.......more

Goodreads review by Shelby on January 19, 2022

A necessary and belated beginning to adding more Indigenous literature into my life and classroom. Favorite Quotes: "Colonialism is as much about the symbolic diminishment of Indigenous peoples as the displacement of our physical presence." "Relationship is the driving impetus behind the vast majority......more