Collins Memorial Library: ENGL 362: Native American Literatures: Secondary Sources

Recommended Subject Databases

These subject databases may be especially useful for your research projects for this class. Depending on your topic and your angle, you may wish to search additional subject databases.

America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
U.S. and Canadian history from prehistory to the present.
Anthropology Plus
Covers scholarly work in the areas of social, cultural, physical, biological and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture and interdisciplinary studies.
Gender Studies Database
Covers the full spectrum of gender-engaged scholarship inside and outside academia.
Literature Criticism
Includes overviews by topic, author, and work, as well as excerpts from articles, books, and essays written by scholars.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
The key database for identifying scholarly books, essays, articles, and dissertations on modern literature in all languages. Also covers cultural studies, folklore, film studies, and linguistics.
Sociological Abstracts
Scholarly work written by and of interest to sociologists.

E-Journal Collections

These e-journal collections provide access to many journals in the humanities, but they are more limited in coverage compared to subject databases. In most cases, it's better to search subject databases to identify articles, and then search the journal title in Primo to link to the materials in these e-journal collections.

JSTOR
An interdisciplinary journal archive. It includes archives of over one thousand leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work.
Project MUSE
Interdisciplinary database includes books and articles from scholarly publishers with focus on humanities and social science.

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General Database Search Tips

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Build your search vocabulary -- keep a running list of key words, phrases, concepts, synonyms, and any related terms or ideas that you find.
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Use database descriptors -- once you find an article that looks good, see what descriptors or "subject headings" were assigned to it in the database. You can use these to search only for articles that have the same descriptors attached.

Featured Books

Domestic Subjects: gender, citizenship, and law in Native American literature by Beth H. Piatote
Call Number: PS153.I52 P53 2013 Print Books
ISBN: 9780300171570
Publication Date: 2013
In this groundbreaking interdisciplinary work, Piatote tracks the double movement of literature and law in the contest over the aims of settler-national domestication and the defense of tribal-national culture, political rights, and territory.
Erotics of Sovereignty: queer native writing in the era of self-determination by Mark Rifkin
Call Number: PS153.I52 R54 2012 Print Books
ISBN: 9780816677825
Publication Date: 2012
Offers a look at how contemporary queer Native writers use representations of sensation to challenge official U.S. accounts of Native identity. In this way, we come to see how their work contests the homophobic, sexist, and exclusivist policies and attitudes of tribal communities as well as those of the nation-state.
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: native America from 1890 to the present by David Treuer
Call Number: E77 .T797 2019 Print Books
ISBN: 9781594633157
Publication Date: 2019
An essential, intimate history - and counter-narrative - of a resilient people in a transformative era.
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Call Number: E76.8 .D86 2014 Print Books
ISBN: 0807057835
Publication Date: 2015
Acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz offers a history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals how Native Americans, for centuries, actively resisted expansion of the US empire.
Native American Issues by William N. Thompson; Mildred Vasan (Editor)
Call Number: E98.T77 T56 2005 Print Books
ISBN: 9781851097418
Publication Date: 2005
This handbook provides an in-depth assessment of the struggles, successes, and status of Native Americans in what is now the United States from the time of the first European settlers to the present.
Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the long tradition of Indigenous resistance by Nick Estes
Call Number: E99.D1 E87 2019 Print Books
ISBN: 9781786636720
Publication Date: 2019
Nick Estes traces traditions of Indigenous resistance leading to the #NoDAPL movement from the days of the Missouri River trading forts through the Indian Wars, the Pick-Sloan dams, the American Indian Movement, and the campaign for Indigenous rights at the United Nations.
Reading Native American Literature by Joseph L. Coulombe
Call Number: PS153.I52 C59 2011 Print Books
ISBN: 9780415579421
Publication Date: 2011
Also available online. Native American literature explores divides between public and private cultures, ethnicities and experience. In this volume, the author argues that Native American writers use diverse narrative strategies to engage with readers and are 'writing for connection' with both Native and non-Native audiences.
That Dream Shall Have a Name: Native Americans rewriting America by David L. Moore
Call Number: PS508.I5 M64 2013 Print Books
ISBN: 9780803211087
Publication Date: 2014
The founding idea of "America" has been based largely on the expected sweeping away of Native Americans to make room for EuroAmericans and their cultures. In this authoritative study, David L. Moore examines the works of five well-known Native American writers and their efforts, since the nation's early days, to redefine an "America" and "American identity" that includes Native Americans.