Destruction and Resiliency: Decolonizing Settler Knowledge in Native American Literature Through the Peoplehood Matrix

• Main Author: Gannie, Renissa R.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Digital Commons @ DU 2023
• Subjects: Decolonization; Native Americans; Resistance; Settler colonialism; Sovereignty; The Peoplehood Matrix; College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences; English and Literary Arts; Arts and Humanities; English Language and Literature; Literature in English; North America; Ethnic and Cultural Minority; Native American Studies; Race; Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies; Washburn; anishina*
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2250; https://digitalcommons.du.edu/context/etd/article/3242/viewcontent/Gannie_denver_0061M_12538.pdf

This thesis explores the complex dynamics of settler colonialism and the construction of peoplehood within the Laguna Pueblo, Lakota, Jemez Pueblo, Anishinaabe, and Blackfeet culture through a comparative analysis of literary works focusing on Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony, Frances Washburn’ Elsie’s Business, N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn, Gerald Vizenor’s The Heirs of Columbus, and Stephen Graham Jones’s Ledfeather; these authors employ narrative strategies to depict the destructive impacts of settler colonialism on indigenous identities and communities. Drawing upon postcolonial and indigenous literary theories, this research uses a comparative framework to analyze the diverse ways the selected works address the themes of settler colonialism, peoplehood, and cultural resilience. Through close reading and examination of the author’s use of narrative techniques, such as storytelling, language, and symbolism, they convey the multifaceted experiences and struggles of indigenous individuals and communities within a settler colonial context. The analysis emphasizes the importance of stories for cultural preservation and resistance, the significance of ceremonial cycles and language, and the symbolism of the land and landscape in reclaiming and reaffirming indigenous peoplehood.