الحس القومي والاصالة الثقافية في شعر عصر النهضة لسكان امريكا الاصليين == Nationalism and Cultural Authenticity in Native American Renaissance Poetry
Author name:
بسمة بشير نوماس
Supervisor name:
سعد نجم عبد عباس الخفاجي
General topic:
Foreign Languages
Specific topic:
English - Literature
Degree:
Master
University:
University of Baghdad - College Of Education For Girls - Department Of English Language
Language:
English
University location:
Baghdad
First pages:
06T1124 - p.pdf
Abstract:
The literature of Native American Renaissance is considered a recent topic which deals with the revival of the diminishing Native American cultural heritage including their traditions, storytelling, legends, ceremonies, symbols, and folklore. Such a type of literature depicts the various kinds of oppression faced by the American Indians from their European colonizers.This thesis is concerned with the analysis of the poetical works written by some selected contemporary Native American poets whose poetry reflects their cultural authenticity and literary heritage. The selected poets to be dealt with in this study are Simon Ortiz, Joy Harjo, and Sherman Alexie. The scope of the study focuses on the attitude and the point of view of each of those poets in dealing with the crisis of their identity. The goal of the thesis is to show how those poets pursue different ways in an attempt to revive the Native American spirit of survival.The study falls into four chapters and a conclusion. The first chapter is devoted to trace the historical and cultural roots of the indigenous people of America including their traditions, costumes, religion, language, accommodation and their suffering after the colonization. This chapter discusses also the importance of the coined Native American Renaissance term and its vital role to the Native American authors and to the modern American literary scene.In chapter two, an analytical study of Ortiz’s concept of cultural nostalgia is given through analyzing some poems from his two important books of poetry From Sand Creek and Woven Stone.Chapter three sheds light on the crisis of the Native American woman’s identity as reflected in Joy Harjo’s books of poetry She Had Some Horses and The Woman Who Fell from the Sky.In chapter four, attention is given to dark humor in Alexie’s books The Business of Fancydancing and One Stick Song as a means of reviving the cultural identity of Native Americans and expressing the present suffering of them on reservations. This chapter shows also the prominent role of Alexie in depicting the Native Americans’ bitter reality and how dark humor affects positively their cultural continuity.The last part of the thesis is the conclusion that sums up the findings of this study.
