ENGL 4665

Indigenous Fantasy and Futurisms

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2016-2017 Catalog.

Radically subverting the "Vanishing Indian" myth, Indigenous authors depict Indigenous peoples thriving in many possible futures. Although Indigenous speculative fiction is nothing new, we're currently seeing a new flush of Indigenous fantasy and futurism that combines Native conceptions of the universe and non-linear space-time with Indigenous and western technologies. Through revising generic conventions, Native authors overturn the closure of western conquest narratives while drawing on ancient beliefs and practices to ensure balanced, inter-relational survival—not only of human beings, but other-than-human persons, too. We will examine how these texts, hypertexts, films, games, and multimedia projects disavow the long-established sci-fi and fantasy tropes that place Indigenous peoples in the role of the "alien" that invades domestic space, or, conversely, the "alien" objects of "discovery" and invasion.

Distribution Category (CA-AS)

When Offered Spring.

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