Week 3 Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach

Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach has many intriguing things which can be examined, however my blog will focus on the literature Lisa experiences during her education. Lisa explains her outburst at school surronding her resistance to reading a text out loud. Lisa states she found the text offensive because it describe indians eating humans. The issue of presenting Indians as savages in literature is an ongoing phenomena, I myself have seen a portrayal in literature. The presentation Lisa is faced with is a common stereotype. Individuals often "imagine indians" like Susan Moodie imagines the indian gentleman in text roughing it in the bush. Imaging is very dangerous since it is always built on stereotypes and usually is constructed through a binary. The binary seperates Europeans and other culture through placing what ever is not European on the other side of the binary. The "imagined other" is a recurrent issue which is pervasive in literature. Lisa confronts her teacher stating that is not what Native peoples do, her grandmother explained they didn't eat people it was similar to the Christian ritual of drinking the blood of Christ. Considering her grandmother's analogy shows different perspectives of viewing an act, one may see the Christian ritual as savage and misinterpret it similarily. It is dangerous to assume rather than understand and know. The information Lisa is confronted with illustrates how those who are not European get stereotyped and categorized into one group , rather than being thought of as individuals. The text Lisa is suppose to read assumes their ritual is cannibalistic and that all Natives act similariy , when one small group, or even one individual is not a representive of the whole. Stereotyping was not only seen in print, but media and photography as well. Many photographers took pictures of Indians however dressed them according to their stereotypes , and created photography which reflects stereotypes. Below I have posted a video I found interesting and certainly speaks to the imagined Indian found in media, and often in European literature.
www.nsi-canada.ca/i_m_not_the_indian_you_had_in_mind.aspx

Week 2 Thomas King "Godzilla vs. the Postcolonial"

King's article "Godzilla vs. the Postcolonial" points out problematic issues surronding the term "post-colonial". The term generalizes numerous races and cultures together instead of creating a distinction and forms a binary between europeans and those who have been colonized. My blog will focus on Kings point that the term post-colonial is problematic because it continually connects the colonialized to the colonizers as well when referring to literature produced by the colonised it asserts their literature as a reaction to colonialism.Such a generalization about literature produced by those cultures recovering from colonialization would be wrong, and definitly incorrect. For example, one of my favorite novels is Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road which contains information about Native culture focusing on storytelling. The focus on storytelling as a structure and a theme illuminates the importance of stories with Native culture. King in The Truth About Stories states "The truth about stories is that's all that we are" (2). King states stories are important to culture, and create individual identtity as well as cultural identity. Kings statement illustrates literature produced by cultures who have experience colonialism does not always focus on that experience, but rather they produce literature which contains culturally information. Many writers like Boyden use their native language and by definining themselves and their culture they take back the power to define themselves. King in his article states a major point which is by using the term postcolonial to refer to literature written by indigenous people it focus on their contemporary literature as a reaction to colonialism, and to view their literature as such is incorrect. Joseph Boyden's novel is contemporary literature which focuses on the Cree culture, and is an example of aesthetic work which is not speaking about colonialism. To view literature produced by the colonised as a reaction to colonialism is limiting, and it prevents individuals from exploring the structure, and content and intrisique literary value they offer as well as it may hinder the amount of cultural knowledge that can be found, and learn in may literary works. When examing this issue King raises surronding Native literature , immediatly I thought of Boyden who offers so much cultural insight as well as presents the beauty found in these cultures.

Works Cited
King Thomas. The Truth About Stories. Toronto: Anansi Press, 2004.