Grant Enables Teachers to Study Native American Literature

By Richard Walker Indian Country Today 

Media Network January 2, 2012

Sixteen teachers will study American Indian literature at Western Washington University this summer, thanks to a $122,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

During the five-week Summer Seminar for School Teachers, teachers will study four contemporary Native American novels: The Surrounded by D'Arcy McNickle (Métis), House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), Winter in the Blood by James Welch (Blackfeet/Gros Ventre), and Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo).

"We will examine these four 'firsts' - the first extended narrative by each author - in the contexts of the cultures that they portray," said Western Washington University English professor John Purdy, who applied for the grant. "These novels represent the achievements of fledgling writers from very different backgrounds and experiences who faced similar artistic and rhetorical challenges when they chose to write a novel. Each, in turn, provided noteworthy contributions to American literature in general, and collectively have come to reflect a definitive center for the rapidly expanding canon of Native American fiction."

Purdy is a specialist in Native American literature and developed his university's Native American studies minor. He is the author of Word Ways: The Novels of D'Arcy McNickle and edited the essay collections The Legacy of D'Arcy McNickle and Nothing But the Truth: an Anthology of Native American Literature.

The seminar at Western is designed for full-time teachers, librarians and administrators in grades K-12. The 16 participants selected will receive a stipend of $3,900.

To apply, visit wwu.edu/neh or e-mail: neh@wwu.edu

Deadline: March 1, 2012

Eligibility and Selection of Participants

Native American fiction, by its very nature, takes readers into a variety of academic “disciplines.” Also, any discussion of it is enhanced by a diversity of backgrounds and areas of expertise, so I hope that—with the aid of our selection committee—I will be able to offer a truly interdisciplinary seminar comprised of individuals from diverse fields and experiences.

These seminars are designed for full time teachers including home-schooling parents, but other K-12 school personnel, such as librarians and administrators may apply as well. Substitute teachers or part-time personnel are not eligible. Applications from teachers in public, charter, independent, and religiously affiliated schools receive equal consideration.

Please note: Up to two seminar spaces are available for current, full-time graduate students who intend to pursue careers in K-12 teachin

Teachers at schools in the United States or its territorial possessions or Americans teaching in foreign schools where at least 50 percent of the students are American nationals are eligible for this program. Applicants must be United States citizens, residents of U.S. jurisdictions, or foreign nationals who have been residing in the United States or its territories for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline. Foreign nationals teaching abroad at non-U.S. chartered institutions are not eligible to apply.

The Participants/Stipends

The sixteen participants selected will receive a stipend of $3,900 in two installments, one upon arrival and one at the mid point of the seminar. Each participant will have full access on Western’s campus for the duration of the seminar as visiting scholars. This allows for use of university facilities, such as the library, the media centers, and so on. This includes computer labs for both Mac and PC users, and Internet accounts for the duration of the seminar, if desired. The campus is wireless.