Native Americas: A Transnational and (Post)colonial Study of Indigenous Women Writers in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean
Project Type
Event
Abstract
The scholarship I conducted for my dissertation responds to scholars’ recent interest in literary transnationalism and explores the implications for American Indian studies; the fiction of indigenous people in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean has not yet been read together to ascertain which similarities exist between different tribal groups in the Americas. I argue that ongoing colonization is the central link which binds these distinct groups together. Thus, drawing on postcolonial theory, I isolate the role of displacement, language, and cultural memory in several contemporary novels and short stories, including those written by well-known authors like Leslie Marmon Silko and more obscure writers like Eden Robinson, examining the way these women writers subversively respond to their socio-political situations. Ultimately, I reveal the political significance of reading together Native women’s fiction from across the Americas, demonstrate the benefits of postcolonial and feminist theories for studying indigenous fiction, and offer refinements of both theoretical frameworks.
Native Americas: A Transnational and (Post)colonial Study of Indigenous Women Writers in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean
The scholarship I conducted for my dissertation responds to scholars’ recent interest in literary transnationalism and explores the implications for American Indian studies; the fiction of indigenous people in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean has not yet been read together to ascertain which similarities exist between different tribal groups in the Americas. I argue that ongoing colonization is the central link which binds these distinct groups together. Thus, drawing on postcolonial theory, I isolate the role of displacement, language, and cultural memory in several contemporary novels and short stories, including those written by well-known authors like Leslie Marmon Silko and more obscure writers like Eden Robinson, examining the way these women writers subversively respond to their socio-political situations. Ultimately, I reveal the political significance of reading together Native women’s fiction from across the Americas, demonstrate the benefits of postcolonial and feminist theories for studying indigenous fiction, and offer refinements of both theoretical frameworks.