Towards Indigenous Literary Nationalisms Interpreting Monkey Beach and The Marrow Thieves

Abstract

This paper was originally written for Deanna Reder’s English/Indigenous Studies 360 course Popular Writing by Indigenous Authors. The assignment asked students to write a compare and contrast essay on the novels Monkey Beach by Haisla-Heiltsuk author Eden Robinson and The Marrow Thieves by Métis author Cherie Dimaline, drawing on at least one academic article for analysis. The paper uses MLA citation style.

In this paper, I argue that Indigenous literary nationalism, a method of Indigenous literary criticism which seeks to understand Indigenous literatures through their own cultural contexts, is applicable to understanding both culturally specific and pan-Indigenous instances of Indigenous literature. Using Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach and Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves as examples of the former and latter categories respectively, I conclude that Indigenous literary nationalism may be rethought more appropriately as Indigenous literary nationalisms, at once incorporating culturally specific Indigenous contexts while making room for pan-Indigenous potentialities.