In “Sovereignty’s Glitch: Structures of Feeling in Native American Literature,” Brandi Bushman (Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians of California), took a capacity Hinds Library audience through her readings of recent works by contemporary Native American authors, including Whereas by Layli Long Soldier, Nature Poem by Tommy Pico, There There by Tommy Orange, and Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan (from which the screenplay for Killers of the Harvest Moon was developed), connecting them to theories, among others, those developed by Glen Coulthard, associate professor in the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program and the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia, and theories that Bushman presented publicly for the first time in this talk, part of her final public oral exam.

Bushman returned to Princeton for the exam from Providence, Rhode Island, where this fall she began a position as a Mellon postdoctoral research associate in American studies, which will transition to an assistant professor position.

As well as Department of English faculty and graduate students, in the audience sat students pursuing degrees in other fields, members of the Princeton American Indian and Indigenous Studies Working Group (PAIISWG) and undergraduate members of Natives at Princeton (NAP).

PAIISWG was founded as the Princeton American Indian Studies Working Group in 2011 by graduate students Rebecca M. Rosen (English) and Joshua N. Garrett-Davis (history), and aims to be a hub for graduate students and faculty from Princeton and beyond who work on Native American and Indigenous studies topics.

The final public oral exam was held on Dec. 10, 2024, from 1:30 to 3 p.m.