essay about pre colonial literature

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Pre-Colonial Philippine Literature: Forms, Examples, and Frequently Asked Questions

The Philippines has a long history of storytelling, even before the Spanish arrived. These stories, passed down by word of mouth for many generations, were more than just entertainment. They were a way for our ancestors to teach people things, share important values, and connect with their culture. This blog will answer the question: “What are the dominant literary forms of pre-colonial Philippines?”

We’ll discuss each form of Philippine literature during pre-colonial period. We’ll also include pre-colonial literature examples and a brief explanation supporting each.

Forms of Philippine Literature During Pre-Colonial Period

Proverbs, known in Filipino as salawikain , are like practical advice passed down through generations. They often use rhymes to make them easier to remember and teach essential skills for navigating daily life.

Some examples include:

Riddles, or bugtong in Filpino, are mind teasers that challenge wit and creativity. Often poetic and playful, they use descriptions or metaphors to lead the listener to the answer. 

During the pre-colonial period in the Philippines, riddles were a common form of oral literature. They are like proverbs but differ in one thing—they demand an answer.

Filipino riddles often have a humorous tone, but their answers are often more serious than expected.

Here are examples of Philippine riddles:

Filipinos expressed their emotions and experiences through songs. These beautiful songs capture the joys and sorrows of our ancestors’ lives, from finding love to saying goodbye, and everything in between.

Here are five examples of Philippine folk songs during the pre-colonial period:

• Ili-ili (Ilongo): A lullaby that is an example of folk song in the Philippines during the pre-colonial period.
• Panawagon and Balitao (Ilongo): These are examples of love songs that were sung during the pre-colonial period.
• Bayok (Maranao): This is a type of folk song that originated from the Maranao people, a Muslim ethnic group in the Philippines, and is still sung today.
• Ambahan (Mangyan): This is a seven-syllable per-line (heptasyllabic) poem about human relationships, social entertainment, and a tool for teaching the young. It is an example of the traditional music of the Mangyans, an indigenous group in the Philippines.

These were narratives passed down, often explaining natural phenomena or cultural practices.  These narratives also tell stories of origin. Often, they’re called myths and legends.

Here’s how they differ:

These are the crown jewels of pre-colonial literature. These lengthy narrative poems recount the adventures and misadventures of heroes and supernatural beings. 

Here are a few examples:

Frequently Asked Questions about the Pre-colonial Philippine Literature

What is the pre-colonial era in the philippines.

The Philippines’ pre-colonial era is like the Philippines before history books were written down. It’s a long time ago, way before the Spanish came in the 16th century. Imagine a Philippines made up of many independent communities with their own languages, customs, and traditions.

What is Philippine literature during the pre-colonial period?

Since there weren’t any printing presses yet, literature back then wasn’t like the books we read today. Instead, stories were passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. Our ancestors would tell folktales, sing songs, recite poems, and chant proverbs to keep their traditions alive.

What is the difference between pre-colonial and colonial literature?

The main difference is when they were created . Colonial literature refers to stories written during the Spanish era, often influenced by European themes and religion. Literature written beyond this period, including American and Japanese, is also considered colonial literature. Pre-colonial literature, on the other hand, reflects the beliefs, way of life, and heroes of Filipinos before the arrival of the colonizers.

Why is pre-colonial literature important in the Philippines?

Pre-colonial literature is super important because it tells us much about how people lived back then. It shows their values, beliefs, and even how they saw the world around them. It’s like a window to the past!

What are the characteristics of pre-colonial literature in the Philippines?

Since it was passed down orally, pre-colonial stories often use repetition, rhyming, and vivid language to make them easier to remember and sing. They also focus on themes like bravery, community, and respect for nature.

How can these pre-colonial forms of literature be of use to your life right now?

Precolonial literature is like a treasure chest for understanding our past. These stories, myths, and poems are like windows into how people lived, what they believed in, and what was important to them way before colonization. This can help us appreciate our roots and where our traditions might come from. Plus, the lessons and morals in these stories are timeless. It’s like getting advice from old, wise people.

Do you think you can still use the lessons they teach in your daily life?

Yes! Even though things are different now, the lessons in precolonial literature can still totally apply today. They teach us about bravery, honesty, respect, and dealing with tough choices. These values are important no matter what time period you’re in. So, next time you read a pre-colonial story, think about the lesson it might be trying to tell. It might surprise you how relevant it can be!

If you’re looking for more resources about  literature , then make sure to browse my  website .

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Philippine Literature during Pre-Colonial Period

Precolonial Period

Filipinos often lose sight of the fact that the first period of the Philippine literary history is the longest. Certain events from the nation’s history had forced lowland Filipinos to begin counting the years of history from 1521, the first time written records by Westerners referred to the archipelago later to be called “Las Islas Filipinas”. However, the discovery of the “Tabon Man” in a cave in Palawan in 1962, has allowed us to stretch our prehistory as far as 50,000 years back. The stages of that prehistory show how the early Filipinos grew in control over their environment. Through the researches and writings about Philippine history, much can be reliably inferred about precolonial Philippine literature from an analysis of collected oral lore of Filipinos whose ancestors were able to preserve their indigenous culture by living beyond the reach of Spanish colonial administrators.

The oral literature of the precolonial Filipinos bore the marks of the community. The subject was invariably the common experience of the people constituting the village-food-gathering, creature and objects of nature, work in the home, field, forest or sea, caring for children, etc. This is evident in the most common forms of oral literature like the riddle, the proverbs and the song, which always seem to assume that the audience is familiar with the situations, activities and objects mentioned in the course of expressing a thought or emotion. The language of oral literature, unless the piece was part of the cultural heritage of the community like the epic, was the language of daily life. At this phase of literary development, any member of the community was a potential poet, singer or storyteller as long as he knew the language and had been attentive to the conventions f the forms.

Thousands of maxims, proverbs, epigrams, and the like have been listed by many different collectors and researchers from many dialects. Majority of these reclaimed from oblivion com from the Tagalos, Cebuano, and Ilocano dialects. And the bulk are rhyming couplets with verses of five, six seven, or eight syllables, each line of the couplet having the same number of syllables. The rhyming practice is still the same as today in the three dialects mentioned. A good number of the proverbs is conjectured as part of longer poems with stanza divisions, but only the lines expressive of a philosophy have remained remembered in the oral tradition. Classified with the maxims and proverbs are allegorical stanzas which abounded in all local literature. They contain homilies, didactic material, and expressions of homespun philosophy, making them often quoted by elders and headmen in talking to inferiors. They are rich in similes and metaphors. These one stanza poems were called Tanaga and consisted usually of four lines with seven syllables, all lines rhyming.

The most appreciated riddles of ancient Philippines are those that are rhymed and having equal number of syllables in each line, making them classifiable under the early poetry of this country. Riddles were existent in all languages and dialects of the ancestors of the Filipinos and cover practically all of the experiences of life in these times.

Almost all the important events in the life of the ancient peoples of this country were connected with some religious observance and the rites and ceremonies always some poetry recited, chanted, or sung. The lyrics of religious songs may of course be classified as poetry also, although the rhythm and the rhyme may not be the same.

Drama as a literary from had not yet begun to evolve among the early Filipinos. Philippine theater at this stage consisted largely in its simplest form, of mimetic dances imitating natural cycles and work activities. At its most sophisticated, theater consisted of religious rituals presided over by a priest or priestess and participated in by the community. The dances and ritual suggest that indigenous drama had begun to evolve from attempts to control the environment. Philippine drama would have taken the form of the dance-drama found in other Asian countries.

Prose narratives in prehistoric Philippines consisted largely or myths, hero tales, fables and legends. Their function was to explain natural phenomena, past events, and contemporary beliefs in order to make the environment less fearsome by making it more comprehensible and, in more instances, to make idle hours less tedious by filling them with humor and fantasy. There is a great wealth of mythical and legendary lore that belongs to this period, but preserved mostly by word of mouth, with few written down by interested parties who happen upon them.

The most significant pieces of oral literature that may safely be presumed to have originated in prehistoric times are folk epics. Epic poems of great proportions and lengths abounded in all regions of the islands, each tribe usually having at least one and some tribes possessing traditionally around five or six popular ones with minor epics of unknown number.

Filipinos had a culture that linked them with the Malays in the Southeast Asia, a culture with traces of Indian, Arabic, and, possibly Chinese influences. Their epics, songs, short poems, tales, dances and rituals gave them a native Asian perspective which served as a filtering device for the Western culture that the colonizers brought over from Europe.

Ten Reasons Why Life Was Better In PreColonial Philippines

Let’s look at some of the compelling reasons why we think life was really better during the pre-Spanish Philippines.

• Women Enjoyed Equal Status with Men.

During precolonial times, women shared equal footing with men in society. They were allowed to divorce, own and inherit property, and even lead their respective barangays or territories.

In matters of family, the women were for all intents and purposes the working heads, possessing the power of the purse and the sole right to name their children. They could dictate the terms of their marriage and even retain their maiden names if they chose to do so.

During this time, people also traced their heritage to both their father and mother. In fact, it could be said that precolonial Philippines was largely matriarchal, with the opinions of women holding great weight in matters of politics and religion (they also headed the rituals as the babaylans).

As a show of respect, men were even required to walk behind their wives. This largely progressive society that elevated women to such a high pedestal took a serious blow when the Spanish came. Eager to impose their patriarchal system, the Spanish relegated women to the homes, demonized the babaylans as satanic, and ingrained into our forefathers’ heads that women should be like Maria Clara—demure, self-effacing, and powerless.

• Society Was More Tolerant Back Then.

While it could be said that our modern society is one of the most tolerant in the world, we owe our open-mindedness not to the Americans and certainly not to the Spanish, but to the precolonial Filipinos.

Aside from allowing divorce, women back then also had a say in how many children they wanted. Sexuality was not as suppressed, and no premium was given to virginity before marriage. Although polygamy was practiced, men were expected to do so only if they could support and love each of his wives equally. Homosexuals were also largely tolerated, seeing as how some of the babaylans were actually men in drag.

Surprisingly, with the amount of sexual freedom, no prostitution existed during the pre-colonial days. In fact, some literature suggests that the American period—which heavily emphasized capitalism and profiteering—introduced prostitution into the country on a massive scale.

• The People Enjoyed A Higher Standard Of Government.

The relationship of the ruler to his subjects was very simple back then: In return for his protection, the people pay tribute and serve him both in times of war and peace.

Going by the evidence, we could say that our ancestors already practiced an early version of the Social Contract, a theory by prominent thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau which espoused the view that rulers owe their right to rule on the basis of the people’s consent.

Conversely, if the ruler became corrupt or incompetent, then the people had a right to remove him. And that’s exactly the kind of government our ancestors had. Although the datus technically came from the upper classes, he could be removed from his position by the lower classes if they found him wanting of his duties. Also, anyone (including women) could become the datu based on their merits such as bravery, wisdom, and leadership ability.

• We Were Self-Sufficient.

In terms of food, our forefathers did not suffer from any lack thereof. Blessed with such a resource-rich country, they had enough for themselves and their families.

Forests, rivers, and seas yielded plentiful supplies of meat, fish, and other foodstuffs. Later on, their diet became more varied especially when they learned to till the land using farming techniques that were quite advanced for their time. The Banaue Rice Terraces is one such proof of our ancestors’ ingenuity.

What’s more, they already had an advanced concept of agrarian equity. Men and women equally worked in the fields, and anyone could till public lands free of charge. Also, since they had little-to-no concept of exploitation for profit, our ancestors generally took care of the environment well.

Such was the abundance of foodstuffs that Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, the most-successful Spanish colonizer of the islands, was said to have reported the “abundance of rice, fowls, and wine, as well as great numbers of buffaloes, deer, wild boar and goats” when he first arrived in Luzon.

• We Had Smoother Foreign Relations.

We’ve all been taught that before the Spanish galleon trade, the precolonial Filipinos had already established trading and diplomatic relations with countries as far away as the Middle East.

In lieu of cash, our ancestors exchanged precious minerals, manufactured goods, etc. with Arabs, Indians, Chinese, and several other nationalities. During this time period, many foreigners permanently settled here after marveling at the beauty of the country and its people.

Out of the foreigners, it was the Chinese who were amazed at the precolonial Filipinos the most, especially when it came to their extraordinary honesty. Chinese traders often wrote about the Filipinos’ sincerity and said they were one of their most trusted clientele since they did not steal their goods and always paid their debts.

In fact, some Chinese—out of confidence—were known to simply leave their items on the beaches to be picked up by the Filipinos and traded inland. When they returned, the Filipinos would give them back their bartered items without anything missing.

• Our Forefathers Already Possessed A Working Judicial And Legislative System.

Although not as advanced (or as complicated) as our own today, the fact that our ancestors already possessed a working judicial and legislative system just goes to show that they were well-versed in the concept of justice.

Life in precolonial Philippines was governed by a set of statutes, both unwritten and written, and contained provisions with regards to civil and criminal laws. Usually, it was the Datu and the village elders who promulgated such laws, which were then announced and explained to the people by a town crier called the umalohokan.

The Datu and the elders also acted as de facto courts in case of disputes between individuals of their village. In case of inter-barangay disputes, a local board composed of elders from different barangays would usually act as an arbiter.

Penalties for anyone found guilty of a crime include censures, fines, imprisonment and death. Tortures and trials by ordeal during this time were also common. Like we’ve said, the system was not perfect, but it worked.

• They Had The Know-how To Make Advanced Weapons.

A lantaka (rentaka in Malay), a type of bronze cannon mounted on merchant vessels travelling the waterways of the Malay Archipelago. Its use was greatest in precolonial Southeast Asia, especially in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Via Wikipedia.

Our ancestors—far from being the archetypal spear-carrying, bahag-wearing tribesmen we picture them to be—were very proficient in the art of war. Aside from wielding swords and spears, they also knew how to make and fire guns and cannons. Rajah Sulayman, in particular, was said to have owned a huge 17-feet-long iron cannon.

Aside from the offensive weapons, our ancestors also knew how to construct huge fortresses and body armor. The Moros living in the south for instance, often wore armor that covered them head-to-toe. And yes, they also carried guns with them.

With all these weapons at their disposal and the fact that they were good hand-to-hand combatants, you’d think that the Spanish would have had a harder time colonizing the country. Sadly, the Spanish cleverly exploited the regionalist tendencies of the precolonial Filipinos. This divide-and-conquer strategy would be the major reason why the Spanish successfully controlled the country for more than 300 years.

• Several Professions Already Existed.

Aside from being farmers, hunters, weapon-makers, and seafarers, the precolonial Filipinos also dabbled—and excelled—in several other professions as well.

To name a few, many became involved in such professions as mining, textiles, and smiting. Owing to the excellent craftsmanship of the Filipinos, locally-produced items such as pots, jewelry, and clothing were highly-sought in other countries. In fact, it is reported that products of Filipino origin might have even reached as far away as ancient Egypt. Clearly, our ancestors were very skilled artisans.

• The Literacy Rate Was High.

Using the ancient system of writing called the baybayin, the precolonial Filipinos educated themselves very well, so much so that when the Spanish finally arrived, they were shocked to find out that the Filipinos possessed a literacy rate higher than that of Madrid!

However, the high literacy rate also proved to be a double-edged sword for the Filipinos once the Spanish arrived. Eager to evangelize and subjugate our ancestors, the missionaries exploited the baybayin for their own ends, learning and using it to translate their various works. Consequently, the precolonial Filipinos became more easily susceptible to foreign influence.

• We Already Had An Advanced Civilization.

Contrary to foreign accounts, our ancestors were not just some backwards, jungle-living savages. In reality, precolonial Philippines already possessed a very advanced civilization way before the coming of the Spanish.

Our ancestors possessed a complex working society and a culture replete with works of arts and literature. When the colonizers came, everything contradictory to their own system had to go. Sculptures, texts, religious ceremonies, and virtually anything else deemed obscene, evil or a threat to their rule were eliminated.

Conclusively, we can only speculate what would have happened had our ancestors never been colonized in the first place. Although the Spanish era (and the American period by extension) did have their good points, would it have really been worth it all in the end?

Reflection:

Precolonial Literature in the Philippines by one means or another gave us an illustration from the past. It underscores on how our literature began in the country which is the Philippines. From that point forward, we Filipinos do truly have beautiful and awesome literature that we can some way or another be pleased with. Philippines indeed, without a doubt a nation that is rich in custom and tradition through having diverse characteristics. It was evident that each of the tribes we have had their own specific manner of living which some way or another make them stand-out from others. As what have aforementioned, their folk speeches, folk songs, folk narratives, indigenous rituals and mimetic dances really affirmed our ties with our Southeast Asian neighbors. Even when their lifestyle before was not the same as we have now, they really have these techniques and ways on preserving their traditions for them to be able to pass it from generation to another generation. The differing qualities and abundance of Literature in the Philippines advanced next to each other with the nation’s history. This can best be acknowledged in the sense that the nation’s precolonial cultural traditions are very much abundant. Through these things, I can truly say that Philippines is a home of diverse and unique culture, norms and tradition.

I would like to thank the owner of this articles that I used. These were very helpful for my project.

You could visit the real website and my reference for this. 🙂

http://www.filipiknow.net/life-in-pre-colonial-philippines/

http://www.angelfire.com/la2/litera1/precolonial.html

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4 thoughts on “ philippine literature during pre-colonial period ”.

Hi, great work! May I know the artist of the artwork above? Thanks!

Thank you. However, I am not certain who really made the artwork above. But most probably, its a Filipino art piece.

This is a great and a scholastic work! I really find it helpful especially in providing reference and justification to the highly organized system of the pre-colonial Philippine society. Thanks for posting.

Thank you so much. Delighted that this helps. God bless.

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Becoming America: An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution

(8 reviews)

Wendy Kurant, University of North Georgia

Copyright Year: 2018

ISBN 13: 9781940771465

Publisher: University of North Georgia Press

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Kristen Studer, Adjunct Instructor, Butler Community College on 5/21/21

As an example, in the study of the romantics and transcendentalists, Kurant offers valuable context when discussing westward expansion, displacement of Native peoples, and war with Mexico. The author also covers the Industrial Revolution,... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

As an example, in the study of the romantics and transcendentalists, Kurant offers valuable context when discussing westward expansion, displacement of Native peoples, and war with Mexico. The author also covers the Industrial Revolution, immigration, tensions over slavery, other political concerns, and social reforms as parts of the environment in which the romantics existed. In the selection of authors and works, Kurant offers a variety of mode (fiction, exposition, poetry, and drama) as well as sampling from the great variety of humanity, rather than limiting students to the classical cannon of authors. While those authors do still appear, they seem to be in much more diverse company here.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found no errors in accuracy.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Continuing Kurant's trend of bringing further context to the selections, the Revolutionary and Early National Period section begins with a discussion of the French American war and the role of Native Americans in that conflict, giving students the opportunity to see the new nation as one whose existence, long prior to its nationhood, was constantly contended by various entities, rather than one where a war for independence sprang up from nothing more than frustration over taxes. It seems very relevant, in these times, to be aware that contention has always been America's lot.

Clarity rating: 5

As an example, the sections covering the European explorers and early settlers seem to be from a broad spectrum, though perhaps it is only their introductions that make them seem so. However, there are selections from the explorations of the New Netherlands and from other non-Puritan settlers.. Kurant also makes more clear the interactions between various groups of settlers, rather than allowing students to acquire the impression that they were a homogeny.

Consistency rating: 5

I found no inconsistencies. In fact, I find this text to be more consistent with the varied nature of American Literature. For example, I always begin my American Lit I course with a discussion of the Native American literature and have always angled toward correcting for the oversights in the textbook that I use, but that is much less of an issue with this text. Not only does Kurant do a much better job of introducing the topic and its impossible-to-cover scope and complexity, but the author also includes examples from groups of Native Americans who may actually have encountered European explorers and early settlers where they lived in the eastern part of the continent. The author consistently brings this methodology to bear throughout the text.

Modularity rating: 4

Though I did not truly consider this as I was perusing the text, it did seem to me that some sections were significantly longer, perhaps over weighted. And selections from some authors may have be a bit lengthy as well.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Chronological and grouped by historical era. No problems here.

Interface rating: 5

Very user friendly. There are live links to material sourced elsewhere, a tactic which seems to expand the text's scope and relevance.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This section also covers Enlightenment, of course, and offers a broad range of selections from the founding fathers and others. We also hear from female authors, black authors, and even Native American authors, serving to provide students with a picture of American literature that interweaves all voices. Kurant carries this methodology throughout the text, placing authors who have had less voice right in the midst of more traditional selections, rather than confining them to their own sections.

I hope to be able to replace the traditional textbook used in my courses with this more economical and well-integrated textbook. Its organization will make the transition easier for me and I am certain that students will appreciate the move.

Reviewed by Erin Murrah-Mandril, Assistant Professos, University of Texas at Arlington on 12/14/20

The textbook can be considered comprehensive in terms of its coverage of the most traditionally canonical texts of Early American literature from an Anglo-American, New England-centered perspective. It contains a smaller number of authors than... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The textbook can be considered comprehensive in terms of its coverage of the most traditionally canonical texts of Early American literature from an Anglo-American, New England-centered perspective. It contains a smaller number of authors than other anthologies like the Norton or Bedford, it contains longer excerpts of texts. There are a few Native American texts, especially a set of origin stories folk tales and recorded accounts at the very beginning. African American texts are the most canonical only (Phillis Wheatley, Frederic Douglas, etc.), without any of the more recently recovered early African American authors. What appears especially lacking is a more robust account of Spanish America, considering the textbooks focus on Early American literature. The framework of viewing American literature through a teleology of "Becoming America" leaves out much literature that does not fit in to the narrative of U.S. nationhood. Beyond Columbus and Cabeza de Vaca, significant Spanish American literature is missing, including other expeditions, the writing of Spanish missions, or regional literature like Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá's epic poem of New Mexico. Similarly the textbook leaves out literature important to the U.S.-Mexico War or U.S. colonial expansion, though it includes literature up to the 1860s. One surprising omission considering the inclusion of most canonical Anglo-American literature is the absence of Cotton Mather's writing. The textbook does provide a good account of early-American Anglo settlers and an adequate selection of Native American texts from the early British colonial and early U.S. republic. It is impressive that a single editor created this collection of over 1500 pages with extensive head notes, thoughtful reading questions for each text, and paired open access images of art, photos, and maps to accompany the texts with far fewer resources that a big publishing house like Norton or Bedford. The textbook would make a good foundation for a college literature class with some significant supplementation from a professor or teacher.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The textbook is factually accurate. As a depiction of early American life and letters, it is less accurate in that it over represents "great men" or "founding fathers" with less emphasis on literary and cultural production outside of New England. Notes on the textual history of works are also sometimes missing, and the textbook does not clarify which editions are used for the textbook's excerpts.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The book focuses on the more traditionally canonical works of literature, and is thus not at the forefront of literary analysis and the evolving canon. It follows a meta-narrative of U.S. national development that was codified in early 1940s American literary studies. The book does include more women's voices, but it does not depict the complexity and heterogeneity of American culture and life in the 17th, 18th, and 19th century. The canonical works are still relevant but they wold be better paired with other texts and read in new ways that Becoming America does provide.

Clarity rating: 4

The introduction and head notes are written in clear prose. Some of the historical context is dry and dense, especially references to theological paridigms of the early colonial period. More importantly, readers may miss the annotations that are present in print anthologies.

The format is consistent throughout the textbook. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of this textbook are the reading questions at the end of each section. These questions adeptly balance reading comprehension and literary analysis. I could imagine using these questions as discussion prompts. The decimal point organization is also helpful for navigating the long PDF.

Modularity rating: 5

This book can and should be used modularly. It would be very easy to teach some sections or rearrange the material to the instructor's liking. An instructor could even have students read a single excerpted literary work or contextualizing head note. I regularly teach online courses and could imagine pulling specific sections from Becoming America.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The textbook begins with historical organization of early and later colonial literature and revolutionary literature than shift to generic categories of romanticism and transcendentalism in a way that elides the historical events of the early 19th century, namely U.S. expansion and the succession of the South. Texts are presented chronologically except for the Native American collection in Part One, which, like most textbooks, are presented as timeless origin stories( though the editor thankfully clarifies that they were recorded at various points)

Interface rating: 4

The textbook is a standard PDF. The table of contents is very clear. It lacks an index, which is unnecessary because the text is searchable. The table of contents could be improved through anchored links that would allow readers to jump to a sectionfrom the tabel of contents rather than having to scroll through hundreds of pages to get to the desired section.

The writing was very clear and free of grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

The cultural representation is outmoded, particularly in terms of African American and Latina/o inclusion. There is almost no writing recovered in the last twenty years written by Black or Latina/o/x authors. The Native American texts included in this textbook are more in line with contemporary scholarship, for example the letter from Cherokee women to Benjamin Franklin is a nice example of Native American Women's writing which is not always available in literary anthologies. However, the textbook's omission of Indian Removal is unacceptable.

Reviewed by Jenna Gersie, Graduate Part-Time Instructor, University of Colorado Boulder on 6/11/20

In the first section, there is a nod to Native American accounts, including creation stories and accounts of contact with settlers/colonists, but these tales only make up about 25% of this first section, placing the priority on “discovery”... read more

In the first section, there is a nod to Native American accounts, including creation stories and accounts of contact with settlers/colonists, but these tales only make up about 25% of this first section, placing the priority on “discovery” narratives. Fewer discussion questions are provided for the Native American accounts, as well: only five questions for all of the presented stories, whereas each individual piece that follows has as many questions. There are many accounts by white people about people of color; instead, including more voices of color would make this a more comprehensive text. More attention should be paid to America’s founding on genocide, slavery, and settler-colonialism for students to engage more critically with our nation’s past (and present). There is no index, though the Table of Contents is comprehensive.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

“Becoming American” during this time period largely meant becoming white male American, as other people were denied citizenship. Though other voices are included, the text is overwhelmingly white and male. More women’s voices are represented as the text moves chronologically to the Romantic period. However, resisting a traditional canon of American literature would have more writings from women and people of color who participated in or resisted “becoming American.” Shorter excerpts from some authors could be presented to make room for more diverse accounts.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The literature presented is of course relevant and does not go out of date. The text is designed in a simple format that should be easy to update if additional materials are added. If the text is already 1,500 pages, why not make it 2,000 to include literature from more voices?

Some sentences in the introductory materials and learning outcomes are vague or otherwise unclear, but these sections provide useful overviews that should be supplemented with content in lectures to place each author in context.

Consistency rating: 4

The format of the text is consistent, but definitions of time periods that frame each section are missing.

It would be easy to divide the text by section or by author; creating individual PDFs for each author you want to assign would probably be best, rather than presenting students with the full PDF, which could be overwhelming. It would be helpful to have authors and texts listed in the page headers; instead, only the title of the anthology is listed there, so it is hard to know where in the text you are without navigating back to the subject header.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Organization is chronological, which works fine.

The headings and organization are clear, but the links in the Table of Contents do not work, and just bring you back to the first page of the PDF. There are some hyperlinks throughout the text; the ones I clicked on did work, but may not always be available. These hyperlinks seem more useful for instructors to assign separately than to expect students to access and read while using the textbook. It would also be helpful if new sections started on new pages for instructors who want to split desired sections into separate PDFs for students; as it is, new sections often start in the middle of a page.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

There are minimal errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

For a text of this length (more than 1,500 pages), I wish there were a greater diversity of voices included; especially since much of this work is freely available online elsewhere or has already been anthologized, a textbook of this nature could have included less canonized voices to create a fuller picture of American literature.

Reviewed by Christopher Weinmann, Adjunct Faculty, Middlesex Community College on 6/8/20

The anthology is comparable to the first volume of the Shorter Ninth Edition of "The Norton Anthology of American Literature", which is the text I use when teaching survey courses of American literature through 1865. Both textbooks include... read more

The anthology is comparable to the first volume of the Shorter Ninth Edition of "The Norton Anthology of American Literature", which is the text I use when teaching survey courses of American literature through 1865. Both textbooks include authors from the earliest contacts between Native Americans and European colonizers through American writers of the mid-nineteenth century. In general, the typically anthologized texts for each author are included in "Becoming America", and in most cases, there are multiple texts by the authors, which can give instructors more options for assignments. There is a good inclusion of nonfiction (which usually dominates anthologies covering these centuries in American literature), fiction, poetry, and one play: Royall Tyler's eighteenth-century play "The Contrast". One concern is that in four cases (Edwards, Occom, Tecumseh, and various Native American texts), the anthology does not include the texts, but links to them. This is unexpected and may cause difficulties for students who have limited Internet access. Very helpful are the sets of questions after each collection of texts by the same author. Such questions can prove useful for small assignments or in-class writing to generate class discussion and develop essays. Most biographies are accompanied by public-domain pictures of the authors. Students have shared with me that they enjoy seeing the authors of the texts they read, so these illustrations are helpful aids.

The introductory commentary for each section, as well as brief biographies of the authors, are even-handed.

The selection of authors allows for multiple perspectives. Because the anthology follows the traditional chronological order of literature anthologies, the commentaries at the start of each section, the brief biographies of authors, and the texts by those authors can easily be supplemented, revised, or replaced as need be.

The commentaries and brief biographies are written in clear, twenty-first-century language, so that students who are unfamiliar with the lives and times of the authors may easily gain some context as needed before class discussion. Students who are not experienced with the grammar and style of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries may need some preparation for author texts from these periods (as is the case with all anthologies including older texts). One concern regards some of the nonfiction texts from the seventeenth century and earlier: they are provided with the original spelling, which allows for an authentic reading experience, but may prove difficult for students to follow. Modernized spelling of these texts would be very valuable.

The sections of the book provide logical and traditional divisions of American literature through the middle of the nineteenth century, but it would be helpful to provide date ranges as part of the title of each section so that students may have a stronger sense of when the literature included in each section was written.

As a literature anthology, the text is divided into historical sections, each of which includes a statement of learning outcomes, followed by an introductory commentary, and then subsections on the included authors (brief biographies followed by texts). Headings are regularly included.

The anthology has adopted the decimal system of headings which is more common for textbooks in the sciences and social sciences, so that an author text might be given a number such as 1.3.1 (section 1, subsection 3, author text 1). Such numbering implies that each author text is the continuation of a general argument or analysis made in the entire textbook rather than the next included reading. It would be better to remove such numbering. In addition, the top of each page notes only the titles of the anthology and of the section. It would be very helpful on alternate pages to list the author and title of work on those pages so that students may better scan ahead to plan how much time to devote to reading an assignment.

The anthology was viewed via the Preview feature on an Apple laptop computer. Although there were no links from the table of contents to the start of each text, it was possible to search for words (such as names of authors and titles of works) to find the needed parts of the anthology.

Save for the occasional typographical error, there were no errors--certainly, none which caused confusion.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Not including anonymous authors, approximately one-third of the authors in the anthology (19 of 61) are women. African American authors include Equiano, Wheatley, Walker, Jacobs, Harper, and Douglass. Native American authors include Occom, Apess, Cherokee women, and various anonymous authors of Native American texts.

I would consider this book as a suitable replacement for the Norton Anthology, especially when there are few used copies of the current edition of the Norton Anthology available.

Reviewed by Bridget Marshall, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell on 6/2/20

This anthology offers a huge number of selections. 1500 pages is a lot of material; but this is also a huge period and difficult to contain in any anthology. It was also notable that it included an example of drama -- Royall Tyler's The Contrast.... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This anthology offers a huge number of selections. 1500 pages is a lot of material; but this is also a huge period and difficult to contain in any anthology. It was also notable that it included an example of drama -- Royall Tyler's The Contrast. This is an interesting selection, and drama is largely overlooked in most anthologies. It does not have an index or glossary. It sometimes leaves out important things; for instance, in the introduction to section 4, the text explains "By the second decade of the nineteenth century, the United States of America had survived the War of 1812" but there has been no mention of the War of 1812 anywhere in the text prior to this. The rise of Realism is barely touched on -- with the exception of Davis at the end.

There seems to be a lot of praising of famous men. Jefferson and Jackson get quite a bit of celebration, with very little about their very problematic actions. Of Columbus, it notes "Although he hoped to bring peace..." -- where's the evidence of Columbus wanting peace exactly?

There are about a dozen selections that are not actually included in the text, but are URLs to outside sites. At least one of these links is already broken, and others likely will be as well. The chosen links are quite curious and no explanation is given as to why these particular links are reliable or why these versions/editions were chosen.

The writing in the intro sections seems clear for the most part. I like the questions provided at the end of each reading. It could use greater clarity about the timeline -- what are the dates for the individual sections, and why are the pieces arranged in the order they appear? This should be made explicit somewhere. The learning outcomes focus heavily on historical matters more than on literary aspects, which is somewhat curious.

Consistency rating: 3

Each large section has "Learning Outcomes" and each author has a set of "Reading and Review Questions." This is provided consistently throughout. The readings that are provided in URLs are very inconsistent. They all go to different sources of widely different authority. A couple link to highly regarded digital editions (the Samuel Occom one for instance links to an excellent scholarly edition with scanned originals) while others link to "all poetry.com" and "poetry nook.com," sources that are really random. There is one very odd moment -- the introductory material on Edgar Allan Poe notes that it was "Written by Corey Parson," who is also listed as providing the cover and layout design. No other sections have any attribution to anyone else. It's just odd. It's not clear why some authors have many more selections than others. Melville, for instance seems really over-represented here.

Modularity rating: 3

If you wanted to teach one of the four block sections, it would be relatively easy to excise that one section. But if you wanted to teach portions from throughout this large anthology, it's not clear how you would do that. One thing that would make it easier would be to have a hard page break at the end of each individual piece and individual author. That is not the case here, so it will take some work to cut and past sections together. The lack of navigation links also makes modularity difficult (see Interface comments).

From the start, I do wish that the organizational choices could be made more clear and explicit to the reader; I'm left to guess at why choices were made. There are four very large sections, including: 1. Pre-and early Colonial Literature 2. 17th century English Colonial Literature 3. Revolutionary and Early National Literature 4. Nineteenth Century Romanticism and Transcendentalism No dates are provided, so it's not clear why these breaks were chosen or around what specific dates they center. Likewise, the organization within those sections is unclear. Thematic clusters might make sense, but it's not clear that that is what is happening here. Organizational scheme should be made more explicit.

Interface rating: 2

This is a huge book -- over 1500 pages -- but it has no navigation features. At the very least, it should have a hyperlinked table of contents, but if you click on anything in the TOC, it takes you back to the title page. I downloaded the PDF and opened it in Acrobat, and there appear to be "bookmarks" for each section, but those bookmarks do not work; clicking on them doesn't take you anywhere. This is a serious problem in a book of this length. If you're reading in a browser, and you follow the links to any of the hyperlinked readings, when you come back, you go to the title page, which again is really frustrating. For an ebook, it is lacking in many of the benefits that ought to come with the ebook format.

Grammar seems clear throughout.

There is considerable diversity in the readings in terms of authorship and variety of time period and perspectives represented. In the introductory material, the author refers to "slaves" when I think at this point, using "enslaved people" (or "enslaved [specific identity]") would be more appropriate and is generally preferred. There are a lot of Native American readings, which is great, but many of them are provided through links to outside sources. There should be greater explanation of why these particular versions were chosen (and why they weren't integrated into the text, as the majority of other readings are). In general, there should be more explanation of why a particular source/version is used; this is especially important in these Native American traditional pieces, but this would actually be valuable throughout.

The use of images in this text is very problematic. All the images are cited as coming from open source (mostly Wikicommons) which is fine, but there needs to be more information about those images. They appear to be just dropped in for no real reason. One of the first and most egregious examples is "Image 1.2 | Wampum Belt Commemorating the Iroquis Confederacy." There is no mention of wampum anywhere in the text -- why is this image just thrown in here? The image itself is of terrible quality and there is no information about where it's from (a quick google search told me it's from a Popular Science magazine, a very odd choice). "Image 1.7 | Thomas Harriot" is actually notoriously questionable – almost all mentions of it that appear online suggest that it is unconfirmed whether it’s him. The other image for this section -- “Thomas Harriot at Syon Park” -- doesn’t even mention when or where it was made, only that is on a “free art license” – why is this here? It seems incredibly random. The John Smith section includes a portrait of John Smith and of Pocahontas, but with no context or explanation about those images and why they are important. In early instances, there are maps dropped in without context or explanation. For instance, A map of Cabeza de Vaca’s route doesn't even include “the island of Malhado,” which is what the reading assignment is specifically about. In the Rebecca Hardin Davis section, there’s an image of her, but then “Housing in a Mills Factory in Alabama, 1910 Photographer | Lewis Wickes Hine." Both the date and location of the image are completely unrelated to Davis's work. The quality of the reproductions is poor (worst example: "Image 1.1 | Flag of the Wabanaki Confederacy") and the choice of images is very confusing. I would recommend that images be removed completely rather than have these completely decontextualized random ones.

Reviewed by Stefan Schöberlein, Assistant Professor, Marshall University on 2/5/20

One of the key issues here is the odd overarching narrative of the volume: it tells a history of ideology and nation building (“Becoming American”) that follows historical chronology, somewhat oddly centered around the Declaration of Independence... read more

One of the key issues here is the odd overarching narrative of the volume: it tells a history of ideology and nation building (“Becoming American”) that follows historical chronology, somewhat oddly centered around the Declaration of Independence (“Precolonial to Post-Revolution”). Instead of confronting this narrative and critically engaging with it, its assumptions seem to subconsciously creep into every section of the collection. While the selection of texts shows clear awareness of discussions around the problems of the canon and does a laudable job at including suppressed or neglected voices (pre-Columbian creation stories, literature by enslaved persons, popular American women’s writers), its overarching focus on “the nation” (naturalized via the somewhat gaudy photo on the cover) structurally distorts the intents of many authors in this text. In the overarching narrative of the book, pre-colonial Native myths are participating in a discourse on American nationhood alongside British subjects and enslaved captives. All of these, it seems, can’t wait to “become American.” Once the narrative of literary nationhood really takes off, the American North-East, especially New England, figures as a stand-in for the nation. This is especially jarring in the nineteenth-century section that does not incorporate a single text from the American South. Lincoln’s speeches (or the Cornerstone speech), too, are oddly absent here—as is the Civil War itself. Perhaps, the volume sees itself as concluding prior to this period: why, then include Civil War poetry by Whitman and Melville and reference the conflict in study questions? Why is the American West entirely absent? (“The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta”?). Another issue with the selection of texts is turning the build-up to the Civil War into an “on-going moral argument[…] about slavery” (720) to the exclusion of slave revolts (no mention of Nat Turner, nor any reference to his “Confessions”) and John Brown (only opaquely referenced by the editor as having performed an “anti-slavery attack on Harper’s Ferry,” and mentioned in a Melville poem). The narrow national focus also ignores crucial historical contexts: Why have students read “Benito Cereno” and not mention the Haitian Revolution at all? Why make the sentimentalist complaint the only other mode of critique of slavery alongside biographical accounts by former enslaved persons? For a text so interested in religious movements and American exceptionalism, the absence of any reference to Mormonism or Joseph Smith is mindboggling, as well.

Content Accuracy rating: 1

The collection’s narrow focus on American literary nation building leads the editor in a number of odd statements. “America’s economic and technological growth also continued apace as America became the center of the second Industrial Revolution,” the editor observes at one point, suggesting said second industrial revolution was a phenomenon of the antebellum period and suggesting that the US was indeed a leading, industrialized country by mid-century. That is flatly false. While the pace of industrialization was astounding, the US was still trailing all major nations in almost every measure of industrial performance—and the “second industrial revolution” is generally considered a turn-of-the-twentieth-century development—not, as the editor claims an event taking place “in the early to mid—nineteenth century.” Andrew Jackson is introduced as a common man and a “former war hero”—without any suggestion that said heroism was largely built around genocide (“war hero” is not in quotation marks or qualified in any way in the editorial introduction). The “Trail of Tears” is also framed as perpetrated by “American and European” settlers—without any reference to the Indian Removal Act, Jackson’s involvement, or any legislation on a national or state level. Indeed, the very next sentence talks about “American emigrants to the Mexican territory of Texas,” suggesting that Indian Removal (framed as “forced relocations” without any mention of the human cost or ANY loss of life) fits into emigration patterns, not “Jacksonian Democracy” (as celebrated in a different part of the editorial introduction). No critical word is uttered on Jackson in the whole volume. Indeed, the editor makes sure to point out that “numerous social reform movements paralleled the democratic reforms of the Jacksonian era,” suggesting a reading of Jackson as a fundamentally progressive actor. Textual fidelity is also lacking. Certain texts (like Whitman’s or Dickinson’s) are given without dates, letting their works flow vaguely through biographical time. For a poet of revisions like Whitman, this is a fatal error. What is provided here is the 1881/1892 version of “Song of Myself,” for instance, but with the famous missing final period of the 1855 edition (an entirely meaningless printing error, as scholarship has shown). The poem as printed here is not historical. Dickinson’s poems are provided in the 1955 Johnson transcription (with long dashes), not the more relevant Franklin edition. This would require at least some explanation—or perhaps at least a quick image to illustrate what Dickinson’s manuscripts looked like. Neither is given. Dickinson’s again-giant dashes just hang there, unacknowledged, waiting for confused students to overinterpret them. Dickinson and Whitman also serve to illustrate another issue with the collection: it remixes author bios from Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present that are so limited that they become outright misleading. Let’s take this characterization of Whitman: “Much of Whitman’s success and endurance as a poet comes from his ability to marry embedded cultural forms to the needs of a growing and rapidly modernizing nation. Whitman first came to wide public attention with the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855 when he was just twenty-five years old. Grand in scope if not in size, the first edition established Whitman as a poet who loved wordplay and common images” 1. Whitman’s initial 1855 printing was NOT a literary success. Success came via English editions in the 1860s. The 1855 edition was a hand-printed pamphlet that sat on shelves, thought it did garner some really harsh reviews. Essentially, only Emerson enjoyed it and wrote a letter to that extent to Whitman (why not mention that?). 2. What “embedded cultural forms” are referenced here? Most people at the time (including Emerson) did not consider this “poetry.” It may reference newspaper culture—but if so, why not say that? 3. The 1855 edition WAS “grand” in “size.” It was printed on comically oversized legal paper. It was THIN—but certainly big. Much too big to fit in everyone’s pocket (as Whitman hoped). 4. A “poet who loved wordplay and common images”? That’s perhaps the most uninspired description of Whitman I can imagine. What the section leaves out—completely—is Whitman own sexuality, his interest in sexual liberation and sexual politics/poetics. Instead, the foreword goes out of its way to make Whitman as stuffy as possible. And what message would you be sending to your students, if you have them read America’s great queer poet in an edition that refuses to even suggest he wasn’t straight? What makes the anthology at hand even worse is that it includes this sentence: “In the final selection from Whitman, we see Whitman rising as a national poet with “O Captain! My Captain!”. It should be noted that the editor decided not to include “O Captain!”, but didn’t bother to either write a better introduction or delete this sentence. Or to just copy Wikipedia, which is much more accurate. Other author bios are similarly trite: Dickinson reverts back to being an isolated spinster (and, by default, super straight, too), Moby Dick now echoes every high schooler’s book report by “exploring the mysteries of human nature,” and Hawthorne retroactively bestows his chosen spelling of his name (HaWthorne) onto his parents, allowing him to now be “born in 1804 to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Senior and Elizabeth Manning Hawthorne.”

Relevance/Longevity rating: 1

Please see comments on comprehensiveness and accuracy. Why anyone would use this collection when Project Gutenberg, Wikipedia, and sites like the Whitman Archive or the Emily Dickinson Archive provide such significantly better (and, at the very least, accurate) resources is an absolute mystery to me.

Clarity rating: 2

Given the numerous issues already outlined above, I would only like to add my reservations about the editorial work spent (or not spent) on annotating the literary texts. In short: There are no annotations. A Whitman poem titled “Reconstruction” is included and the bio of Douglass mentions that “he also criticized the Reconstruction policy.” (There are a number of statements phrased this oddly). Given these references, one would hope that at least a short explanation of “Reconstruction” is provided somewhere. That is not the case. The texts presented here appear to be largely lifted from Project Gutenberg (or alike websites) and no labor has been spent on adding the necessary explanatory apparatus that would turn this into a helpful resource in the classroom.

Please see my comments under “Comprehensiveness.”

The collection is organized by time periods, though the exact time range for each section remains a mystery. Each section has learning outcomes, though these are often at odds with the actual content presented or the study questions that follow a specific author section. These learning outcomes are generally focused on larger political developments (westward expansion, for example), while the study questions tend to favor an ahistorical mix of reader response and close reading. On the whole, these questions are perhaps the one contribution (aside from the period introductions) that add value to this volume. It is odd, though, that they do not cover all texts in a given author section: The Melville section, for instance, concludes with four questions about three of the six texts by Melville.

Adequate. See my reservations in previous sections.

The formatting is consistent but the interactive table of contents is broken (just sends you back to the first page), making this edition harder to use than the many superior, freely available online documents that could (and should) be consulted in its stead. Given the format (both of page and file), your students will not be able to read this on their phones.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

There are a number of floating periods as a result of copy & paste errors. While the language in the introductory sections is largely adequate, it often slips into oddities: there is a strange reliance on articles, where there should be none (“criticized the Reconstruction policy.”), overuse of determiners that creates vagueness (“Andrew Jackson . . . would have never made it that far before that time”), and an overuse of a passive voice that suggests a lack of knowledge of historical actors (“However, a crisis was touched off”), sometimes coupled with an overreliance on simplistic vocabulary (“the Compromise of 1850 was made to resolve it”).

The edition is trying to be inclusive but runs into a number of issues, especially around the overly positive depictions of Jackson and the edition’s inability to acknowledge Native American genocide in the nineteenth century (see “accuracy”). Queer themes are purposefully ignored to a degree that constitutes revisionism. I cannot recommend its use in any classroom, though it might add value at the text selection stage of syllabi development.

Reviewed by Shyam Sriram, Visiting Assistant Professor , Butler University on 1/18/20

At over 1,500 pages - yes, you read that right - this OER text is literally "Dr. Kurant's Opus." I wanted to write about how much I enjoyed this text and why I wish I could have thrown it in the face of those who love to start the American story... read more

At over 1,500 pages - yes, you read that right - this OER text is literally "Dr. Kurant's Opus." I wanted to write about how much I enjoyed this text and why I wish I could have thrown it in the face of those who love to start the American story with "The Mayflower Compact." But my enthusiasm quickly gave way to dismay when I realized that the author has her own selective touch to how she defines American literature.

Content Accuracy rating: 2

This book/compilation is titled "Becoming America: An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution," but my question is why? How can claim to tell the definitive story of American history from two time periods that are so poorly defined? How far back is "pre-colonial"? The author does well to include Native American creation stories as the first chapter, which might suggest to the reader that she is going really far back. But it feels like this addition was done just to pay lip service to those who claim that Native American history is neglected - it is - from textbooks. Why include such a short section and then barely reference other Native Americans along the way (except for the token inclusion of Tecumseh and William Apess)?

Similarly, where does post-revolution end? I presumed that post-revolution might be the 1790s, but the author goes as far along as 1869 when she ends the collection with Louisa May Alcott's "My Contraband." If this is the marker, then where are the slave narratives? Why is this "opus" so lacking in black voices? The University of North Carolina has a whole website dedicated to slave narratives that begin in 1740. Why has the author chosen to share the writings of abolitionists like David Walker instead of actual slaves? Why does this text simply reinforce the belief that the only three people of color whom American students should read are Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Jacobs, and Frederick Douglass?

This compendium is definitely relevant, especially at a time when a frequent point of discussion has become - again - about what makes America/ American identity. Sadly, the lack of black voices - as mentioned in the last section - make this work less relevant than it should be. Perhaps students must access this work in conjunction with the New York Times' "1619 Project" to get a better feel of "Becoming America."

The author's sections on "Learning Outcomes" and introductions to each of the four parts are written well and should be easily accessible by teachers and students alike.

The text does employ a consistent style and framework, but is inconsistent with how each section is defined. There are no parameters for what defines "Pre- and Early-Colonial Literature" (Part I) and the post-revolution of the title, especially because the last part is dedicated mainly to Romanticism and Transcendentalism.

"Becoming America" is absolutely massive, but it can be assigned easily in sections. Each of the four parts include many authors and/or specific thematic blocks, which can be assigned individually.

Without belaboring the points I made earlier, my additional concern here is why certain authors are emphasized more than others. Yes, the text misses key voices, particularly people of color and black voices. But the bigger issue is the author's obsession with certain writers. Does any student need access to THIRTY of Emily Dickinson's poems?

Very easy to navigate, especially if the user opens the file through Adobe Reader to find what they are looking for.

Well-written and free of punctuation, spelling, and grammar mistakes.

See previous points about over-representation of abolitionists and under-representation of African American voices.

Reviewed by Worth Weller, Lecturer, Trine University on 11/1/19

Beginning with a thorough explanation of Native American and European explorative accounts that puts this period in its imperialistic context, Becoming America: An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution covers... read more

Beginning with a thorough explanation of Native American and European explorative accounts that puts this period in its imperialistic context, Becoming America: An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution covers indigenous creation and medicine stories, the first recordings of contact, and letters and writings from early trappers, traders, settlers, missionaries and soldiers. Moving through the logical sequence of early American literary history through 19th century Romanticism and Transcendentalism, each section opens with well-developed learning outcomes as well as a contextual introduction, and each author and accompanying selection comes with five reading and review questions that rank high on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Although there is no index, a well developed and very detailed table of contents readily reveals the comprehensiveness of the subject matter and how to quickly find specific periods and authors.

Introductory material for each section pulls no punches in setting fully developed historic contexts free of Western canonical bias. Selections throughout the 1553 page book maintain the often lost voices of indigenous, female, African and other minority writers and speakers of the times. Despite making room for many authors and writers often overlooked, the textbook still has room for the full range of America’s literary development from Thomas Paine to Louise May Alcott which helps makes the text an accurate representation of the historical period covered.

Literature seldom goes out of date, but the selection and editing process does. Although new authors are constantly being discovered and recognized for their place in the development of American literature, this very comprehensive textbook, which includes many of the writings of the Founding Fathers as well as those of slaves, farmers and ordinary workers along with the early American literary canon, does not appear to have left out any voices of merit well-known and not so well-known to this point.

Although the text-book introduces each topic with carefully crafted academic interpretations of the time-period, it avoids literary jargon, and where it does use higher-level terms, the author takes great pains to explain them and give examples. Both high school and college English or History majors would find this a highly readable and engaging text.

The text follows a clearly defined historical timeline and is divided into sections that consistently begin with Learning Objectives, followed by an historical and literary overview before introducing the selected readings for that period along with their reading and review questions.

The textbook is presented as four distinct periods, beginning with Native American and European Explorative Accounts and ending with Emily Dickinson, Rebecca Harding Davis and Louisa May Alcott. In that the editor presents nine to 28 authors per period, it would be quite easy for an instructor pressed for time to compress the number of required readings without losing core course content.

The use of clear and consistent headings, along with a color scheme that indicates the categories of the headings and subheadings, makes the book attractive and facilitates ease of use. Presented as one PDF file, the text is readable, attractive and searchable. However, in a few cases the editor has resorted to hyperlinks to present some readings. These might be problematic over time, are not easily navigable back to the preceding pages and disrupt the over-all presentation, look and feel of the text.

The book is well proof-read, with non of the errors often associated with texts exported to PDF files.

The author does a thorough job of uncovering American literary voices that otherwise might not have been presented in earlier anthologies, with what by today's standards would be considered fair and comprehensive historical analysis in the section overviews.

I am looking forward to using sections and readings from this book in my next online Introduction to Literature course.

Table of Contents

• Part One: Pre- and Early Colonial Literature
• Part Two: Seventeenth Century English Colonial Literature
• Part Three: Revolutionary and Early National Period Literature
• Part Four: Nineteenth Century Romanticism and Transcendentalism

Ancillary Material

• Ancillary materials are available by contacting the author or publisher .

About the Book

The University of North Georgia Press and Affordable Learning Georgia bring you Becoming America: An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution. Featuring sixty-nine authors and full texts of their works, the selections in this open anthology represent the diverse voices in early American literature. This completely-open anthology will connect students to the conversation of literature that is embedded in American history and has helped shaped its culture.

• Contextualizing introductions from Pre- and Early Colonial Literature to Early American Romanticism
• Over 70 historical images
• In-depth biographies of each author
• Instructional Design, including Reading and Review Questions

This textbook is an open Educational Resource. It can be reused, remixed, and reedited freely without seeking permission.

About the Contributors

Wendy Kurant , Ph.D., teaches Early American Literature, American Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, and Southern Literature at the University of North Georgia (UNG). Her research interests center on new Historicism and depictions of the South and the Civil War in Literature. She has taught at UNG since 2005.

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Martin, Isabel Pefianco. 2007. The Literature Filipino Students Do Not Read. In David Prescott, Andy Kirkpatrick, Azirah Hashim, and Isabel Pefianco Martin. (eds.) English in Southeast Asia: literacies, literatures and varieties. UK:Cambridge Scholars Press, 290-318

Isabel Pefianco Martin

This chapter presents a study about the literature young Filipinos read today. The first part briefly reviews the literary canon, curriculum, and teaching practices during the American colonial period. The second part details the study which specifically addresses the following questions: (1) What literary texts are required by high school teachers in the literature classrooms? (2) What literary texts are read by Filipino high school students on their own? (3) Is the Anglo- American literary canon, introduced through the American public school system about a hundred years ago, still being used in Filipino literature course today? (4) To what extent does Philippine literature in English occupy the Filipino students’ literature education? More than a hundred years after American soldiers first taught English to Filipino schoolchildren, Philippine literature education today continues to privilege texts of American and European origins.

Randwick International of Education and Linguistics Science Journal

Learning a second language is one thing. Learning a second language through reading a text is another thing. This study aims to show the acquisition of Filipino as Second Language of the respondents who are reading novels. The researcher utilized the Descriptive Method of research with the questionnaire as the main data-gathering instrument since this study focused on Reading Filipino Novels in Acquiring Filipino as Second Language; Basis in Designing a Guide to Enhance Filipino Proficiency. Engaging children in reading novels have some effects on how they acquire new language. The improvement of a child is not only about himself but also there are some factors concerning it.This study aims to show the acquisition of Filipino as Second Language of the respondents who are reading novels. Those respondents who are fond of reading such novels will acquire something

Rolando Salvana

Baby Jane Panganiban

Fatima Joy Miranda

World Journal of English Language

Rom Peña II

This research paper will discuss the manifestation of popular culture in the works of young Filipino novelists. It will focus on the novels of three young Filipino novelists in the Philippines. The three Filipino novels are Peksman (Mamatay Ka Man) Nagsisinungaling Ako (at Iba Pang Kuwentong Kasinungalingan na Di Dapat Paniwalaan) by Eros S. Atalia, published in 2007; Lumbay ng Dila by Genevieve L. Asenjo, published in 2010 and Sa Kasunod ng 909 by Edgar Calabia Samar, published in 2012. These three novels were prizewinners and received citations in the Philippines. All of the authors of these three novels became fellows of the International Writing Program (IWP) of the University of Iowa. The primary objectives of this research paper are: to explore the manifestations of popular culture in the selected three novels from the Philippines as works and practices of intellectual and incredibly artistic activity of young Filipino novelists and to build a new understanding and reading of ...

John Karlo Sapuyot

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Language choice and the problematics of ideology in the pre- and post-independence ghanaian press: a historical and cultural analysis.

1. Introduction

2. language ideologies and their socio-cultural ramifications.

[A] linguistic situation where the indigenous people are gradually conscientised to shun their indigenous languages and adopt foreign languages because of the benefits they expect to derive from them. They are made to believe that their languages cannot be used in any transaction in education, economics, science and technology but instead, a foreign language is the best.

4. The Language Situation in Ghana before and after the Arrival of the Press

5. The Pre-Independence English Newspapers and Language Use

6. the pre-independence indigenous language newspapers and language use, 7. broadcasting during the pre-independence era, 8. the immediate post-independence press and language use, 9. the pre-1993 press, language ideologies, and literacy.

The impact of some of the various social, political, and administrative institutions that were established by British Colonial Governments on the spread and influence of the English language was immense. … By 1824, English was the only language spoken in the Cape Coast Castle School. This aligned with the report by the Education Committee of the Privy Council to the Colonial Office in 1847 which, among others, emphasised the need to disseminate grammatical knowledge of the English language as the most important agent of civilisation.

literary networks which revealed the dynamic way in which local readers appropriated and utilised English language text for their immediate ends using literature to express their own social and economic aspirations within the rapidly changing and highly charged atmosphere of the colonial society’. ( Nsiah 2020 )

10. Conclusions

Institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Fosu, M. Language Choice and the Problematics of Ideology in the Pre- and Post-Independence Ghanaian Press: A Historical and Cultural Analysis. Journal. Media 2024 , 5 , 1194-1210. https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia5030076

Fosu M. Language Choice and the Problematics of Ideology in the Pre- and Post-Independence Ghanaian Press: A Historical and Cultural Analysis. Journalism and Media . 2024; 5(3):1194-1210. https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia5030076

Fosu, Modestus. 2024. "Language Choice and the Problematics of Ideology in the Pre- and Post-Independence Ghanaian Press: A Historical and Cultural Analysis" Journalism and Media 5, no. 3: 1194-1210. https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia5030076

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