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The US with a Native American angle EXAM
As an attempt to approach an American topic in a way that has not been covered on the various level B English classes, we are going to focus on the Native American aspect of the US history, culture and literature.
Essential questions to try and cover will be:
How have Native Americans been portrayed by people outside their cultures? How do these representations affect public perceptions of Native Americans? In what ways do these representations further Native American stereotypes?
How did (and still do!) Native Americans contribute to the history of literature and writing in America?
What about NAs in the US today? Native American activism and lives today
In addition, you will read an American novel chosen and read together in small groups (literature circles) and relate these to the concept of 'the American Dream'.
Kernestof:
Ayana Archie: 'Trump issues a Columbus Day proclamation to "reclaim" the explorer's legacy' https://www.npr.org/2025/10/11/nx-s1-5570093/columbus-day-trump-proclamation (NPR article, 11 Oct., 2015)
Louise Erdrich: 'Fleur' (short story, 1986)
Sherman Alexie: 'Indian Education' (short story, 1993)
Sherman Alexie: 'The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven' (short story,1993)
Chris Eyre: 'Smoke Signals' (1998) feature film
Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi: 'Reservation Dogs' (2021) (TV series - episodes 1 +2)
Tommy Orange: 'Prologue' from the novel 'There, There' (2018)
Robin Wall Kimmerer: ‘Learning the Grammar of Animacy’ (essay, 2012)
Supplerende stof:
Crash Course: Native American History (episodes 1 + 4 + 17 - youtube videos)
The National Museum of the American Indian: 'Boarding Schools' (website with informational text and images) https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/code-talkers/boarding-schools/
ABC: 'American Indian Boarding Schools: A Small US Town Digs for the Truth | Foreign Correspondent' (short documentary from ABC, 2022) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ3rZduU4Oc
PBS Interview w Tommy Orange, Dec. 2018, https://youtu.be/JXCbmuIFD8M?si=8yC-28PmNFWVLojG
Group work on five different NA topics creating posters
Værklæsning (in groups) - American novels:
Of Mice and Men
The Great Gatsby
Dead Poets Society
Americanah
Sunrise on the Reaping
Key Terms: Subjugation, eco-centric, identity, stereotypes, overlooked, alienation, animacy, assimilation, intergenerational trauma, colonisation, loyalty, tribes/nations, dehumanisation, folklore (stories, myths, legends), storytelling, diversity, pattern breaker (break the cycle of poverty/abuse), collective ‘we’, cultural appropriation, reservation(s), indigenous, pride, prejudice, not feeling at home anywhere, treaties, ancestral language, loss, urbanity, pow-wow, divide and separation, cultural erasure, genocide, family, languages
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