Why Indigenous Literatures Matter
The AUPresses Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Committee is pleased to host its next Community Read online discussion.
The featured book is Why Indigenous Literatures Matter by Daniel Heath Justice. Published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Why Indigenous Literatures Matter is a concise survey of the field of Indigenous Literary studies—part political and social history and part literary polemic. Heath Justice considers how Indigenous writing works in the world through personal narrative, cultural analysis, and close reading of key creative and critical texts, guided by four central questions: How do we learn to be human? How do we become good relatives? How do we become good ancestors? How do we learn to live together?
The session will feature a conversation between Heath Justice and Alice Te Punga Somerville. Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee Nation) is professor of Critical Indigenous Studies and English at the University of British Columbia. Alice Te Punga Somerville (Te Ātiawa) is associate professor of Māori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Waikato and the author of Once Were Pacific: Māori Connections to Oceana.
The complete list of all titles nominated for the Community Read program may be found here. The member-published nominated titles are available for purchase on the AUPresses Community Read page at bookshop.org.