East Tennessee State University
Weaving Accessibility and Art in Marilou Awiakta's <em>Selu: Seeking the Corn-Mother's Wisdom</em>.
Abstract
dc:description.abstract<p>In Selu: Seeking the Corn-MotherÆs Wisdom, Awiakta enlists the reader to participate on the path to knowing Selu, Corn-Mother to us all. In particular, the book provides a reader with a text that blends ancient Cherokee teachings of the oral tale of <em>Selu</em> with contemporary Western, Appalachian-American thought and experience. Awiakta adopts and adapts <em>Selu</em> in order to capture and express the essence of the tale within a contemporary American aesthetic.</p> <p>Though Awiakta's approach is didactic, it rises above mere teaching to achieve an aesthetic characterized by accessibility, simultaneity, and liminality. She purposely combines stories, poems, teachings, histories, and cultural reflections to produce art that is dynamically personal and cultural. The purpose of this study is to investigate how Awiakta's construction of art surpasses didacticism to express the liminality of the author's cultural identity.</p>
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- MA (Master of Arts)
- Level thesis:degree_level
- Thesis - unrestricted
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- English
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2001
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Basinger, James David
Subjects
dc:subject × 7Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
-
- Copyright by the authors.
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Repository record dc:identifier
- https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/109
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-1159