(Counter)narratives of Memory and Resilience: Unearthing Identity in the United States and Canada

Abstract

This work aims at examining the role of four works of literary fiction in the creation of discourse related to the historical and cultural memory of the United States and Canada: Indian Horse (2012) by Richard Wagamese, The Night Watchman (2020) by Louise Erdrich, What We All Long For (2005) by Dionne Brand and The Nickel Boys (2019) by Colson Whitehead. By analyzing four narratives related to the (re)construction of identity, this work proposes a comparative approach to the construction of different national identities in North America through so-called “counter-storytelling” (G. Solórzano and J. Yosso, 2002). The main objective of the project is to evaluate the representation of resilience (Basseler, 2019; Fraile-Marcos, 2019) and its impact on construction of memory in North America by focusing on voices historically marginalized due to ethnicity, gender, class, and/or place of origin.