Stories as “med-sins”: Lee Maracle’s Ravensong and Celia’s Song

Abstract

This article posits the centrality of stories as agents of potential harm and healing in the revalorization of Indigenous epistemologies and contemporary decolonizing efforts. Reading in tandem the stories woven within the novels Ravensong (1993) by Salish-Métis author Lee Maracle and its sequel Celia’s Song (2014), it brings to light a model of community-centred health policing in the earlier novel that turns into a powerful call for decolonization and Indigenous resurgence in Celia’s Song. The use of illness tropes in these novels goes beyond exposing the damaging by-products of colonialism, manifested as a transgenerational epidemic of violence amongst the Indigenous population, to create powerful images of Indigenous resurgence and Indigenous–settler engagement. These analyses are contextualized within the current COVID-19 pandemic and draw on, among other sources, Lee Maracle’s own critical reflections on the cultural and healing roles of stories, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s writing on Indigenous resistance and resurgence.