Introduction to the Indigenous Oral Literatures of the Northwest Coast of North America

Harvard FAS

This course introduces students to the indigenous oral literatures of the Northwest Coast of North America. After overviewing the cultural history and linguistic diversity of the region, we will embark on a series of case studies focusing on Clackamas Chinook, Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuxalk, and Haida oral traditions. We will read narratives regarding the origins of the world and of the societies that inhabit it; accounts of heroic journeys to otherworldly realms above the sky and beneath the sea;…