TY - JOUR
T1 - Indigenizing Blankness in the Works of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Gerald Vizenor, and Jordan Abel
AU - Mackay, James
AU - Mackay, Polina
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The article examines the strategic use of blankness in the literary works of Indigenous authors Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg), Gerald Vizenor (White Earth Nation Anishinaabe) and Jordan Abel (Nisga’a). The study begins by tracing the broader tradition of blank books, blank works of art, and blank pages in English language literature, discussing the techniques that have evolved to make blankness speak. We then trace the potential implications of blanks in work specifically by Indigenous artists, where it can be made to speak as a commentary on erasure, genocide and epistemicide. However, in our readings of all three writers, we discover that each uses strategies of blanking to take the audience through such a trauma-centered reading, but also to go beyond it. By emphasizing the creative renewal that blankness embodies, each author uses it as a (literal) space of healing and imagination. This space is then linked via various narrative associations, most importantly by invoking the ancient art of petroglyphs, to Indigenous land sovereignty and survivance.
AB - The article examines the strategic use of blankness in the literary works of Indigenous authors Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg), Gerald Vizenor (White Earth Nation Anishinaabe) and Jordan Abel (Nisga’a). The study begins by tracing the broader tradition of blank books, blank works of art, and blank pages in English language literature, discussing the techniques that have evolved to make blankness speak. We then trace the potential implications of blanks in work specifically by Indigenous artists, where it can be made to speak as a commentary on erasure, genocide and epistemicide. However, in our readings of all three writers, we discover that each uses strategies of blanking to take the audience through such a trauma-centered reading, but also to go beyond it. By emphasizing the creative renewal that blankness embodies, each author uses it as a (literal) space of healing and imagination. This space is then linked via various narrative associations, most importantly by invoking the ancient art of petroglyphs, to Indigenous land sovereignty and survivance.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85189303976&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00111619.2024.2319694
DO - 10.1080/00111619.2024.2319694
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85189303976
SN - 0011-1619
JO - Critique - Studies in Contemporary Fiction
JF - Critique - Studies in Contemporary Fiction
ER -