Book chapter
Early Native Literature as Social Practice
The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature
Oxford Handbooks of Literature, Oxford University Press
09/01/2014
DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199914036.013.003
Abstract
In literary studies, “self-fashioning” is an early modern process of constructing one’s identity and public persona by resorting to socially recognized discourse. American Indians found self-fashioning to be a difficult proposition due to stereotypes they had to endure. However, a written program of resistance to limiting definitions of Native “nature” provided the impetus for a body of alphabetic texts, the first great wave of Anglophone Native literature produced by Indian people, including Occom’s Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul of 1772 and Cusick’s Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations of 1828. This chapter explores early Native literature as social practice, as a new “tactic of everyday life” by which to navigate their social roles in a transforming colonial world. It discusses the ambivalence underlying this emergent practice of turning literary expression to tactical social advantage. It also examines how the emergence of early Native literature was shaped by early Native alphabetic literacy, Native literature as material practice, and Joseph Johnson’s public letters.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Early Native Literature as Social Practice
- Creators
- Phillip H Round - University of Iowa
- Contributors
- James H Cox (Editor) - The University of Texas at AustinDaniel Heath Justice (Editor) - University of Toronto
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature
- Series
- Oxford Handbooks of Literature
- DOI
- 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199914036.013.003
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/01/2014
- Academic Unit
- English
- Record Identifier
- 9984398719802771
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