ABSTRACT
Rather than composing a conventional introduction to the volume, we decided instead to offer an informal introductory conversation that outlines the genesis of the collection, some of the central questions that organize it, and our hopes for the contributions it might make to ongoing conversations about Indigeneity, modernity, and literary/cultural production. We also thought it important to reflect on what it meant—and means—to do this kind of intellectual work amid an ongoing global pandemic, widespread movements for racial and social justice, and an intensifying environmental crisis. As we note in the acknowledgements and in the discussion that follows, these contexts have touched every contributor to this volume in one way or another, and we think it important to honor these impacts and to reflect honestly and organically on what it means to do intellectual work and how we do it in ways that acknowledge the full humanity—and relationality—of those involved. Where relevant, we’ve gestured to how specific contributions in the volume speak to these questions and have attempted to situate them within larger critical conversations across modernist studies, Native American and Indigenous Studies, US and Canadian literary and cultural studies, and other fields.
