Indigenous Literature of Quebec
A map of Indigenous territories in Quebec, in their respective Indigenous languages. | Source: Native-land.ca
In a province where debates on the status of the French language and Quebec sovereignty take center stage, where do Indigenous people’s rights, languages and voices stand? How do Indigenous writers and filmmakers of Quebec challenge and contend with the lines drawn around language, territory and race in “La Belle Province”?
In this course, we will examine the specificity of Indigenous literary arts in Quebec, with a focus on Indigenous literature and cinema of the 20th and 21st centuries. We will study the socio-historical and political context of the production of the works and attempt to better understand the epistemologies that underlie them. In particular, we will reflect on the themes of language, sovereignty, territory, kinship and the body. Based on a selection of texts-in-translation from a variety of literary (oral history, autobiography, essay, erotica, short story) and cinematographic genres (visual archives, documentary, short film) and from creators belonging to different nations (Innu, Wendat, Cree, Abenaki and Inuit), we will consider the great diversity of Indigenous literary arts in Quebec.
From the foundations of anticolonial writing in Quebec, beginning with An Antane Kapesh’s autobiographical essay Eukuan nin matshimanitu innu-ishkueu / I Am A Damn Savage, to explorations of love and desire in Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau’s erotic novella The Lover, the Lake, to the repurposing of archival materials in contemporary short films, we will examine how Indigenous writers and filmmakers put forward visions of resurgence, sovereignty and justice in the Quebec context. Throughout the course, we will reflect on our own positionality and relationships to the works we study, in order to engage respectfully with the material.
Required readings:
- An Antane Kapesh, Eukuan nin matshimanitu innu-ishkueu / I Am A Damn Savage
- Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau, The Lover, The Lake
- Naomi Fontaine, Kuessipan
- Additional Required texts and supplementary materials will be provided in digital format and made available to students on Canvas.
Prerequisites: No prerequisites
Note: Credit will be granted for only one of RMST 324 or FREN 280.
Language of instruction: English