'I think I'm Canadian': spatial un-belonging and alternative home making in Indigenous and immigrant Prairie literature
Loading...
Date
2014-09-09
Authors
George, Stephanie Jonina
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This thesis questions the connection between Indigenous and immigrant Prairie literature, taking six contemporary texts as a case study. Aboriginal texts include Maria Campbell’s Halfbreed, Beatrice Mosionier’s In Search of April Raintree and Marilyn Dumont’s A Really Good Brown Girl. Immigrant narratives discussed are Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms, Esi Edugyan’s The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, and Madeline Coopsammy’s Prairie Journey. Read alongside one another, these texts demonstrate that Indigenous and immigrant populations do express similar concerns through literature, generally having to do with Canadian multiculturalism. Specifically, this project will discuss bodily and linguistic differences from a white, English-speaking ‘norm,’ home making on the prairies, and story-telling as an alternative indicator of home. This thesis asserts the importance of studying cross-racial literary engagements as they nuance existing discussions of race and space on the prairies and in Canada.
Description
Keywords
Indigenous, immigrant, Canada, multiculturalism, home-making, story-telling, prairie, homelessness