The Importance and Power of Indigenous Representation in Literature

Abstract

This essay presents an Indigenous student’s perspective on contemporary teaching of eighteenth-century literature and Anglophone literature more generally. Noting the minimal representation of Indigenous writers in my own education, I argue for the importance and urgency of Indigenous representation in literature and academic environments. I encourage both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to make the effort to lift up Indigenous perspectives. I explain that in order for a clear, proper perspective to be seen in education, non-Indigenous people need to listen to and project Indigenous voices. Indigenous people, in turn, need to continue encouraging and supporting one another to achieve scholarship and raise their voices. I note that efforts to include more Indigenous perspectives in predominantly colonial narratives can benefit students. Indigenous students can study and observe patterns in Indigenous literature, and non-Indigenous students can understand and appreciate the diversity in literature. Healing can spread from encouraging more Indigenous representation, and learning about and reading from past great Indigenous writers can in turn ignite a passion for future Indigenous writers.