Date of Award
2008
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program
Theory and Criticism
Supervisor
Regna Darnell
Abstract
This thesis aims to trace the role of contemporary Native narratives in the creation of a new Native identity after the liquidation of the indian simulation. Originating in a language theory that is based both on words as representative signs and as casual I seek to explore how contemporary Native authors are blending their specific community’s oral traditions together with contemporary Western theory. Of primary concern is how Native authors are appropriating Western theory for their own use rather than depending on Western discourse for meaning. I examine the role of Trickster Discourse in upending the invented indian simulation and the role of the author in re-establishing an interconnectedness between words and the physical world that they shape. The Native metaphor of the Earthdiver suggests ways that Native narratives can be read as tactics of resistance within the on-going Colonial system.
Recommended Citation
McKinley, Gerald P., "TEASE OF THE NEW EARTHDIVERS: FOLLOWING NATIVE NARRATIVE IN SEARCH OF NEW IDENTITIES" (2008). Digitized Theses. 4538.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/4538