Gendered Ecological Authority in Louise Erdrich’s Tracks: A Crenshawian Intersectional Analysis
Authors
- Syed Imran Hasnain PhD Scholar, Department of English, Muslim Youth University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
-
Rooh Ul Amin
Professor, Department of English, Rawalpindi Women University, Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7704-2936
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55737/trt/v-iii.274Keywords:
Tracks, Crenshaw, Intersectionality, Gendered Ecological Authority,, Fleur Pillager, Native American Women, Belsey, AnishinaabeAbstract
Drawing on Crenshaw's (1989, 1991) intersectional approach, this article explores how Erdrich’s Tracks (1988) can be read as a question of gendered ecological authority. It is here where Fleur Pillager and Margaret Kashpaw are seen as possessing a form of cultural authority that is produced at the intersection of race, gender, and ecological custodianship, which has not been sufficiently theorized in the field so far. The research method, Belsey’s (2005) model of textual analysis, shows that the colonial attack on these women is aimed at this intersection: the sexual, ecological, and linguistic elements are attacked at the same time because they are simultaneously constituted. Findings show that Fleur's knowledge of bear-clan medicine, the nature of her relationship with Matchimanito, Margaret's warrior tradition, and Nanapush's matrilineal naming of Lulu are formal enactments of the principle that ecological sovereignty and cultural survival go hand in hand in the Anishinaabe world. The article presents an original extended intersectional approach, with the addition of ecological custodianship as a fourth analytical dimension in addition to race, gender, and class.
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