Women Writing Women: Native Female Authors Asserting Power Through Fiction

Abstract

Female Native authors are taking the literary world by force, producing many texts that challenge the patriarchal status quo. Utilizing their ethnic identities to add new perspectives on the problems facing Native American communities, these women frequently upend systems of power in their narratives. In a collection of texts ranging from speculative short fiction, true-crime novels, and dystopian science fiction novels, I will examine how Native women illustrate the power of knowing their history. These Native women create female characters that anticipate trauma and fight back before it can happen commenting on the gravity of the violence facing Native women in the United States. They create female characters who live at the crossroads of their identity but use that dual perspective to upend systems of health and justice in their communities. They also create female characters who heal and bind their communities with the stories they tell. In this analysis I will show how traditional Native elements can be woven into modern fiction to disrupt tropes and systems that have permeated society for too long, leaving Native women at the margins. In these texts they take center stage.