SAMLA 92 - 2020 Native American Boarding Schools in American Fiction

SCANDAL! NATIVE AMERICAN BOARDING SCHOOLS IN AMERICAN FICTION

This panel welcomes submissions on education and assimilation of Native Americans as explored in American fiction. Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop, D’Arcy McNickle’s The Surrounded, Toni Morrison’s [A Mercy], and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Gardens in the Dunes each turn a critical eye towards the educational practices forced upon Indigenous children by Christian missionaries and the American government from the late 19^th century to the early 20^th century. In conversation with SAMLA 92, Scandal! Literature and Provocation: Breaking Rules, Making Texts, panelists are asked to examine these and/or other fictional texts that explore the history of Native American boarding schools through plot, character, author, narratology, audience, language, and literary technique. Papers should be no longer than 15 minutes in oral presentation. Please submit a 250-word abstract, brief biographical statement (including academic affiliation and contact information), and A/V requirements to Valerie A. Smith, Georgia State University, at vsmith53@gsu.edu by June 1, 2020.