Recently, when preparing course materials for English graduate students on the practical skills and theoretical dimensions of teaching literature, the author surveyed the literature on the "state of the field" of literary studies in English (and the entire concept of a liberal arts education), ranging from high-profile monographs to various commentaries in academic publications, including MLA "Profession, College Composition and Communication," and "Pedagogy". What the author discovered was illuminating but somewhat appalling. He opines that the perennial perception is that literary studies are in decline, that the public has little understanding or regard for the value of literary analysis or literature in general, and that scholars of literature are toiling in the service of something that is vaguely important but almost impossible to effectively define or articulate. Add to this the conservatives' sense of tradition betrayed and the progressives' sense of access denied--and their shared perception of influence thwarted--and one has the makings of a rather vexed and anxiety-provoking shroud of doom sweeping over the discipline. In this article, the author explains why Indigenous literatures matter and discusses the currents of trans/national criticism in Indigenous literary studies. (Contains 26 notes.)