Sherman Alexie and Borders Discussion
For this assignment you will respond to the video Sherman Alexie on Living Outside Borders.
Link to the video:
Sherman Alexie and Borders Discussion
For this assignment you will respond to the video Sherman Alexie on Living Outside Borders.
What was something that caught your attention in the video. Why did you choose it?
link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_F_jl3BE-k
Discussion Forum Guidelines
1. Respond to the discussion question fully and please write one page for full credit (300-400 words).
Remember that you should demonstrate a thorough reading of the text material by representing its points accurately and comprehensively, reference a specific topic in the video, demonstrate a thoughtful reflection of and/or reaction to the text material, and focus on text-based reactions by developing additional reactionary points, explaining those points, and adding questions, suggestions, and/or additional citations (all guidelines taken from the discussion rubric).
2. Please respond to William and please write one page for full credit (300-400 words).
Remember that you should demonstrate a thorough reading of the initial post by representing its points accurately and comprehensively, your reply should bring up most of the points represented in the initial post, and your response should be comprehensive in that it demonstrates a thoughtful reflection and/or reaction to the initial post by developing additional reactionary points, explaining those points, and adding questions, suggestions, and/or additional citations.
William’s discussion post: “Sherman Alexie’s TV interview on living without borders was mostly about his writing process and his Native American ethnic identity. Sherman Alexie has mostly left wing politics, Bipolar disorder, a highly anxious personality, and prefers writing poetry to writing novels. Sherman Alexie departs from mainstream white leftism a little bit because he can be more blunt about the state of Native Americans than white liberals because he is a Native American rather than an outsider. The most controversial thing that he said was that the stereotype about Native Americans being prone to alcoholism is accurate. However, his departures from leftism may not be that welcome, since he states that he is often accused of blasphemy by both Indians and non-Indians. Similarly, he is critical of his own tribal sense of self. He says that, since he has a very strong ethnic identity, his worldview can sometimes include a bit too much self-regard. The events of September 11th were a huge political change for Alexie, who says that “the end game of tribalism is flying planes into buildings”. Alexie tries to live in between moral extremes and avoid black and white thinking. It is not clear what Alexie means by black and white thinking, but I think it means that September 11th made him less interested in leftism and more interested in conservatism. I think your average left wing person sees black and white thinking about the oppression of Native Americans a good thing and does not see it as a product of tribalism. Even though most non-white people are conscious of their tribalism, most white people are not conscious of the fact that they do have an ethnic identity. Alexie asked one of his Republican friends if he thought it was a coincidence that over 80% of Republicans are white, and the friend said he did think it was a coincidence.”
