Undisciplining Nineteenth-century Literary Studies at the University of Guyana and Centering the Representations of Indigeneity

Abstract

My earlier experience of teaching nineteenth-century literature at the University of Guyana was influenced by a limiting concept of discipline. Maile Arvin, Eve Tuck, and Angie Morrill's "Decolonizing Feminism: Challenging Connections between Settler Colonialism and Heteropatriarchy" inspired me to undiscipline my engagement with the long nineteenth century to reflect the lived experiences of Guyanese students. In this essay I focus specifically on issues related to Guyanese Indigenous nations, such as land rights, sovereignty, and social justice. Arvin, Tuck, and Morrill's essay reminds us of our responsibility in re-envisioning how we approach the teaching of indigeneity, including our curriculum planning and pedagogy. Here, I discuss how William Henry Hudson's imperial romance Green Mansions (1904) might provide me an opportunity to undiscipline and decenter my previous approach to teaching the period.