| dc.description | The (mis)representation of Natives in non-Native culture has been well-documented by historians, sociologists, and literary critics, whose research has exposed the political, social, and cultural considerations behind the binary objectification of the Native as the "noble savage" and the "demonic Indian." However, this interest in the Native, while flattering to a certain degree, eclipses the body of literature written by Natives because it focuses exclusively on non-Native works. This maintains the position of the Native as Object and promotes the idea that the Natives are unable to speak for themselves. What is often overlooked in this relation of representation is the possibility that the Natives might also have stereotyped the non-Native. This thesis examines the manner in which non-Natives have been portrayed in the plays, novels, and poetry written in English by Native Canadian writers, such as Tomson Highway, Thomas King, Beatrice Culleton, Armand Garnet Ruffo, Richard Wagamese, Daniel David Moses, Eden Robinson, and Drew Hayden Taylor. Drawing on Homi Bhabha's critique of colonial stereotyping and Judith Butler's study of injurious speech, the thesis investigates how the dominant half of a power relation is represented in the literature of the dominated half, and whether the oppressed, in depicting the oppressor, use the same modes and means as have been used to describe them. The six chapters that study the various representations of the non-Native seek answers to questions such as the following: Is the existing power structure of representation destabilized by the portrayal of non-Natives in Native Literature---assuming that there is an unequal distribution of power between the representer and the represented? Is the representation a collective or an individual assessment---as in are "all" Euroamericans stereotyped or are they granted individuality? Do the Native writers allow their characters relative autonomy of expression, or do they deny them freedom by speaking from within the representation? This thesis examines the types of representation found primarily in the works of Native writers and how they affect the relationship between oppressing Self and oppressed Other. | en_US |
