Afro-Swedish and Ojibwe-Canadian Trauma Life Writings: Storms from Paradise, Reasons for Walking, and the Opening of Planetary Circles of Conversation

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/scancan233

Keywords:

Indigenous literature, Black literature, decolonization, transcultural identity, trauma life writing

Abstract

Following Spivak’s model of “crossing borders” and “planetarity”, this article compares two trauma life writings: Wab Kinew’s The Reason You Walk and Johannes Anyuru’s En storm kom från paradiset [A Storm Blew in from Paradise]. They negotiate transcultural identity construction and the intergenerational impact of colonialism, drawing respectively on Jewish philosophy of history, decolonization theory, and Indigenous Anishinaabe and Blackfoot worldviews. Deconstructing Eurowestern linear thinking, they reflect on the power of the moment and ongoing relational reciprocity. In this way, they embrace equity, diversity, and inclusion, and encourage planetary, transcultural, and decolonizing circles of conversation.

Author Biography

Juliane Egerer, University of Augsburg, Germany

Dr. Juliane Egerer is a tenured Academic Lecturer in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Augsburg, Germany. Her research interests include Indigenous and non-Indigenous literatures from Northern Europe and North America, transculturality, identity construction, decolonization, Environmental Humanities, and ecocriticism.

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Published

2023-06-06

How to Cite

Egerer, J. (2023). Afro-Swedish and Ojibwe-Canadian Trauma Life Writings: Storms from Paradise, Reasons for Walking, and the Opening of Planetary Circles of Conversation. Scandinavian-Canadian Studies, 30, 1–35. https://doi.org/10.29173/scancan233