BU Humanists at Work: Alyssa Hunziker, Assistant Professor of English
When most people in the United States hear the term “Indigenous literature,” they probably assume a Native American context. For Assistant Professor of English Alyssa Hunziker, Indigenous literary studies reach beyond the United States to the Pacific Islands and Asia, where Hunziker encounters literature and communities similarly impacted by U.S. imperialism. 
“I’m interested in how Native American authors think about their own nations’ relationship to other communities who have also lived under the U.S. empire in places like Hawai‘i, Guam, the Marshall Islands, the Philippines, and Vietnam,” said Hunziker. While Indigenous communities are not a monolith, Hunziker sees striking similarities between authors and their experiences on opposite sides of the globe. Pointing to the engagement of writers like Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner (Marshallese), Brandy Nālani McDougall (Kanaka ‘Ōiwi), and Craig Santos Perez (Chamoru) with heavily militarized waters surrounding the Marshall Islands, Hawai‘i, and Guam, Hunziker demonstrates how these concerns in the Pacific parallel fights for clean water in Standing Rock Sioux homelands. Hunziker explores this connection and others in her book project, Histories in Common: Indigenous Literatures and the Extra Archives of U.S. Empire.
A scholar of Indigenous literatures and settler colonial studies, Hunziker is new to BU, having spent the last five years at Oklahoma State University. Oklahoma has one of the largest Native American populations in the United States, making it a key player in the development of Indigenous studies research. Now, Hunziker is excited to bring her expertise as a scholar and an instructor to Boston University.
“I find myself gushing about my students constantly,” said Hunziker, “they are so engaged and are really embracing the material.” It’s easy for students to embrace the material in Hunziker’s courses due to her pedagogical approach, which brings in “a wide range of readings, including critical work, novels, poems, and plays, but also Native comics, video games, video poems, and other new media.” Hunziker encourages students to reframe their understandings of U.S. history and literature by engaging with a breadth of texts and working across mediums through assignments that connect course topics to local communities and larger conversations on Indigeneity.
“In my course on ‘U.S. Empire,’ we’re doing small archival research projects to get a better handle on the historical context of our readings,” noted Hunziker. Students can connect concepts from the course to local communities and place texts from the course into their proper contexts. Hunziker doesn’t stop at the archive; she also encourages students to engage with the news and public discourse at the local and global levels. Hunziker gave an example of this work, mentioning that “In my course on “Native American Literature and the Environment,” we’re doing current events projects to connect our readings to active fights for environmental justice and Native sovereignty.”
For those who will not get the chance to enroll in one of Hunziker’s courses, she has plenty of reading recommendations for people interested in engaging with Indigenous stories on their own time. “We are really living in a golden age with so many Indigenous authors producing new work across a range of genres,” said Hunziker. Hunziker pointed to authors Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich, and Tommy Orange as good starting points, but she also recommended poets Natalie Díaz and Layli Long Soldier. Those who want to read a range of authors can check out poetry anthologies like When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through, and New Poets of Native Nations.
Hunziker is excited to contribute to Boston University’s continued investment in Indigenous studies, which has prompted the creation of an Indigenous Studies Working Group and a series of speakers, workshops, and panel discussions on Indigeneity through Diversity & Inclusion’s Learn More Series. Her work will bring a much-needed global perspective on Indigenous literature to our local community.