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Acknowledgments

This collective volume hopes to add to the growing discussion of Native American writing and critical pedagogies in the classroom. The idea to put this collection of pedagogical experiences, theories, and proposals together came after my participation in several international conferences (American Indian Workshop Resurgence and Resistance, London 2017, Small/Minor Literatures and Cultures: A Preliminary Debate, Santiago de Compostela 2017, and Teaching and Theorizing Native American Literature as World Literature, València 2018), and was inspired by the enlightening conversations held with many colleagues working in the field of Native American/First Nations and ethnic literary studies outside the United States and Canada. The challenges of teaching Indigenous American literatures in a foreign, non-Native setting are certainly greater for some of the reasons tackled in the chapters that follow. I would especially like to thank Ewelina Bańka, Silvia Martínez-Falquina, Gloria Chacón, Joanna Ziarkowska, Robert E. Lee, Gordon Henry Jr., David Moore, Kate Shanley, Sharon Holm, Rebecca Tillett, Aitor Ibarrola, César Domínguez, Susana Bautista, Sue P. Haglund, and Juan G. Sánchez for the inspirational exchange of ideas and classroom stories on Indigenous-centered theories and pedagogies and also thank Belén Vidal, María del Pilar Blanco, and Ana Fernández-Caparrós for their academic support and friendship. I am also most thankful, of course, to the amazing contributors to this volume for sharing their pedagogical experiences and wisdom with such commitment and passion.

An immense debt of gratitude and appreciation is also owed to my colleague, mentor, and friend, Carme Manuel—an extraordinary editor and a continuous source of inspiration in the classroom. This book would not have been possible without her insightful advice, generous assistance, and constant support, as well as that of the Conselleria d’Innovació, Universitats, Ciència i Societat Digital (Generalitat Valenciana), which provided funds for our research project “Las literaturas (trans)étnicas norteamericanas en un contexto global: representaciones, transformaciones y resistencias” (Ref. GV/2019/114).

Lastly, I would like to express my warmest gratitude to my students for their enthusiastic reception of Native American literary works throughout the years, in New York University and at the University of Valencia and, most dearly, thank my wonderful family—my parents, my partner Alex, and my precious children—for their unconditional love, patience, and emotional support.