Abstract
This paper explores the overarching narratives of colonial impact and indigenous identity negotiation in two texts, the TV series The 100 and Cherie Dimaline’s novel The Marrow Thieves, through their common motifs of the symbolic and literal reaping of indigenous people and their land. Utilizing a dual lens approach of postcolonial literary theory and indigenous studies, this paper contextualizes human-environment connections in landscapes largely impacted by their contact with colonial imposition. The 100’s Mountain Men plotline deals with the initial stages of colonial contact with indigenous communities as it intersects with older systems of colonial control that have survived in isolation from these communities, exploring narratives of the highly symbolic reaping of indigenous people for exploitive purposes. The 100’s approach to the nuances and history of violations of indigenous bodily autonomy serves as a jumping off point for an exploration of colonial exploitation and appropriation, especially as it relates to the sanctity of the body and a sense of wholeness that comes with maintaining respect for cultural products and their producers. As the technologies and systems of colonization present an eerie parallel with Cherie Dimaline’s novel The Marrow Thieves, this paper uses the common themes and colonial methodologies in both pieces of media to explore indigenous futurity in a post-apocalyptic setting as a speculation that relies on indigenous autonomy, particularly bodily, and how it interacts with the rights to survival in a world that demands not only adaptation, but an intimate connection with the environment to be sustainable.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Literature, Media, Textual Analysis, Colonialism, Indigeneity, Body Politics, Sovereignty
