Reading Resurgence: Indigenous North American and Ghanaian Relationalities in Literature

Abstract

Although Indigenous and postcolonial studies are often treated as distinct fields, this article argues for their interconnection through a focus on relational ways of being. By juxtaposing contemporary Indigenous North American and postcolonial Ghanaian novels, this essay explores the concept of relationality as a form of Indigenous resurgence. With Nanabush’s teaching of relationality as a framework, the study examines how characters in Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach (2000), Diane Wilson’s The Seed Keeper (2021), and Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Healers (1979) navigate and sustain reciprocal relationships with human and non-human kin. The article’s primary contribution is a cross-cultural comparative method called reading resurgence that highlights shared commitments to decolonial futures. By reading resurgence, this work illuminates some of the ways in which Indigenous and postcolonial literatures reject colonial separations and insist on interconnected, place-based ways of knowing. Illuminating what can only be seen in the context of relationships, these novels tell a wider story about the urgent importance of sharing place-based knowledges inter- and intragenerationally to strengthen reciprocal connections between humans and the land. Ultimately, this study affirms the value of cross-cultural literary analysis in understanding how Indigenous and postcolonial narratives contribute to broader global decolonial movements.