Native Lit in the 21st Century

World Literature Today‘s most recent issue (September-October 2014) features an examination of Native Literature in the 21st Century. More complex than it may seem, editor Daniel Simon establishes that WLT means to present “international Indigenous literatures” and asks: “is there such a thing as global Native literature?” He comments further “When one reads the latest theories about what constitutes the vexed category of ‘world literature.’ Not only are Native literatures rarely factored in to those discussions, they are often absent altogether. Moreover, Indigenous writers might be forgiven for wanting to resist being co-opted into a theoretical paradigm that has long been dominated by Eurocentric (even neocolonialist) thinking.” WLT has long made its place in showcasing global Indeginous literatures for their qualities of literary expression, regardless of author ‘label.’ This issue is no exception and only further establishes exactly this practice of recognition.