Abstract

Focusing on the literature of two writers, Lee Maracle and Jeannette Armstrong, this thesis explores processes of 'claiming voice' within a context of resistance. The central questions focus on challenges to, and methods of, re-writing affirming identities. Key theoretical concerns involve negotiating essentialist and constructivist discourses, and disrupting binary oppositions, in order to locate and legitimate claims of oppression without perpetuating the discursive structures supporting colonialist ideology. Using a wide range of texts, the thesis examines three aspects of identity formation as crucial to the project of radicalizing resistance: a dialogical interaction between personal and political identities; the need to re-write narratives of history; and the ways in which race- and gender-constructs intersect in naming 'Self.' Concepts of collaboration, continuity, and dialogue, expressed both thematically and structurally, play a key role throughout the thesis.