Nonhuman Animals in the Anthropocene : Decolonial Animal Ethic in Eden Robinson's The Trickster Trilogy
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Indigenous epistemologies are full of warnings against human destructiveness and many contemporary Indigenous authors write provocative Anthropocene stories that question the centrality of humans in the world. In her latest work The Trickster Trilogy (2017, 2018, 2021), the award-winning Haisla/Heiltsuk writer Eden Robinson disrupts traditional anthropocentric narratives by giving agency to supernatural nonhuman characters. While she gives voice to silenced groups, she does not speak for but rather with nonhuman animals by connecting their ongoing oppression in the settler-colonial context to the position of First Nations peoples, echoing Billy-Ray Belcourt (Driftpile Cree) and his decolonial animal ethic that sees colonization of Indigenous peoples and nonhuman animals as interconnected. The Trilogy also underscores the role of ethics of consumption in the context of settler-colonial society and highlights the importance of food decolonization. On several Indigenous vegan characters who reject the normative carnist diet, Robinson introduces veganism as a decolonial resistance. Using my analysis of Robinson's trilogy as a case study, I will discuss the issues linked to my positionality as a white European scholar that may arrise from combining Indigenous studies and Animal Studies perspectives. I will reflect on and critique Animal Studies scholarship and mainstream animal rights activism that does not engage with decoloniality, arguing that Indigeneity needs to always inform Animal Studies and that decolonization must always be the central focus of any such analysis. Finally, I will highlight the importance of using predominantly Indigenous scholarship as one of the pivotal principles of research ethics in Indigenous studies. |
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