Written Assignment: Native American Novel
- Ethnic Studies 112
- Ross Frank
Written assignment: a 5-8 page essay due Monday, June 2, at the beginning
of class. Pick one of the novels below and start reading it, including
any introductory material. Over the quarter, think about how the history
and issues that we encounter in the course resonate in the novel. Pick
one of the following:
1) Ella Cara Deloria. [Yankton
Lakota] Waterlily. The novel describes the lives of a Sioux (Yankton
Lakota) family and their extended kin in the later 19th century. The lifeway
of the tribe is seen through the life cycle of Waterlily in tremendous
detail. Deloria weaves information about the customs, beliefs, and aspirations
ot the Lakota just before the period of the reservation.
2) Louise Erdrich. [Chippewa-German]
Love Medicine. This set of related short stories or vignette is
set on and around a Chippewa (North Dakota) Reservation. The episodes describe
portions of the lives of members of 2 extended families, part Chippewa
and part White, and four generations. The material is set in the period
1934 to 1984 and concerns interfamily relations in historical context.
3) Frank Waters. [Father
part Cherokee] The Man Who Killed the Deer. The novel is set in
Taos Pueblo, (NM) between the World Wars. A Pueblo man educated in the
East at a government school returns to Pueblo. He struggles with groups
within and outside of the Pueblo to find out who he is, and which world
he can fit in.
4) James Welsh. [Blackfoot] FoolÌs
Crow. About band of Blackfoot (Montana, Northern Plains) during the
treaty period after the Civil War. The story begins in the early 1870s.
The story follows the responses of this Blackfoot band to beginnings of
direct Anglo-American pressure on Blackfoot lands.
If the novel you choose is not available at Groundworks choose another
or locate the book at another book store.
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