Why Indigenous Literatures Matter: Reading (and Teaching) Beyond Wreckonciliation

Prof. Daniel Heath Justice
(Cherokee Nation)
Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture, UBC

Also featuring: Readings by local up-and-coming indigenous authors!

March 8, 2018, 3:30 p.m.
Humanities Centre L-1
University of Alberta

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? These are questions, argues Daniel Heath Justice, that Indigenous literatures take as central-and pose to their readers as well. This talk welcomes new audiences to Indigenous literary studies while offering more seasoned readers a renewed appreciation for these transformative literary traditions. Justice's book, Why Indigenous Literatures Matter, is newly available from Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

Download the event poster here

Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee) is a Professor of First Nations/Indigenous Studies and English UBC and holds a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture. His research and teaching emphasize Indigenous intellectual traditions and methods. He is the author of Our Fire Survives the Store: A Cherokee Literary History and numerous essays in the field of Indigenous literary studies, as well as co-editor of a number of critical and creative anthologies and journals, including the award-winning The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature (with James H. Cox) and Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature (with Qwo-Li Driskill, Deborah Miranda, and Lisa Tatonetti). He is the author of Badger in the celebrated Animal series from Reaktion Books (UK) and the Indigenous epic fantasy novel, The Way of Thorn and Thunder: The Kynship Chronicles.

Sponsored by:
The Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS)
English and Film Studies
Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) Visiting Speaker Grants