Sherman Alexie’s Challenge to the Academy’s Teaching of Native American Literature, Non-Native Writers, and Critics

Authors

Patrice E.M. Hollrah, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Summer 2001

Publication Title

Studies in American Indian Literatures

Volume

13

Issue

3

First page number:

23

Last page number:

35

Abstract

Writing in the mystery genre, Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d’Alene) offers a critique of the academy in Indian Killer through the character of a Spokane Indian, Marie Polatkin, who is a political activist and a University of Washington college student. In chapter seven, “Introduction to Native American Literature,” Marie questions the syllabus for a course taught by Dr. Clarence Mather, a white male anthropologist and Wannabe Indian who “wear[s] a turquoise bolo tie, and his gray hair tied back in a ponytail” (58). As Susan B. Brill notes, “Dr. Mather’s syllabus, lectures, and interpretations of Indian literature demonstrate his erroneous and disturbingly romanticized misconceptions about Indians and their cultures and literatures” (10). During the first class, Marie engages Dr. Mather in a debate about the reading list he has chosen for the course, making an argument for the kinds of texts and authors that should be taught in a course titled Native American literature. As an example of a contemporary female warrior, Marie feels empowered “to harass a white professor who [thinks] he [knows] what it [means] to be Indian” (Indian 61). Also, through the issues that Marie raises, she offers an opportunity to explore what Alexie proposes beyond his critique of Dr. Mather’s reading assignments, texts which Marie believes are neither authentic nor the most appropriate examples of Native American literature.

Keywords

American literature--Indian authors; Detective and mystery stories; Indians of North America

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | English Language and Literature | Indigenous Studies | Literature in English, North America | Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Hollrah, P. E. (2001). Sherman Alexie’s Challenge to the Academy’s Teaching of Native American Literature, Non-Native Writers, and Critics. Studies in American Indian Literatures, 13(3), 23-35.