Rethinking Resistance

Abstract

In Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction (2012), Grace Dillon writes that such texts envision Native futures by rethinking the colonial past. This chapter addresses the intersection of ecofeminism, Indigenous studies, and science fiction by focusing on Louise Erdrich (Ojibwe), The Future Home of the Living God (2017) and Oreet Ashery (Israeli) and Larissa Sansour (Palestinian), The Novel of Nonel and Vovel (2009), two works that model resistance to colonialism. As Tania LaFontaine explains, science fiction serves as a good vehicle for environmental themes (Science Fiction Theory and Ecocriticism 2016); Erdrich’s text presents a near future deeply destroyed by climate change. Yet by embracing the conventions of science fiction, she creates a space for self-determination as the Ojibwe use the disaster to reclaim their land. Also using science fiction as a path toward decolonization, Sansour and Ashery’s tale revolves around their alter-egos, Vovel and Nonel, who accidentally are infected with a virus that gives them super-powers. Reluctant super-heroes, they nevertheless decide to liberate Palestine. Upon reflection, they admit that despite the “dark shadow” of Occupation, they feel more optimistic, much like the Ojibwe in Erdrich’s novel who are celebratory over reclaiming lost land. According to Salma Monani and Joni Adamson (Ecocriticism and Indigenous Studies 2017), such texts are particularly valuable to confront Western notions of progress, which paint Indigenous people as relics of the past. Moreover, Indigenous futurisms feature “returning to ourselves” as a process of recovering ancestral ways. As Cedar, the adopted Ojibwe daughter in Erdrich’s novel, declares to her unborn child: “Our people. My people. Your people,” a statement that she makes after returning to her tribe. Both texts acknowledge that an Apocalypse has already taken place, but by way of Indigenous futurisms the authors propose an optimistic future arising from decolonial struggle.