Indigenous Women's Writing and the Cultural Study of Law

In Indigenous Women’s Writing and the Cultural Study of Law, Cheryl Suzack explores Indigenous women’s writing in the post-civil rights period through close-reading analysis of major texts by Leslie Marmon Silko, Beatrice Culleton Mosionier, Louise Erdrich, and Winona LaDuke.

Cheryl Suzack is an associate professor of English and Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto. She is a member of the Batchewana First Nation.

"Indigenous Women's Writing and the Cultural Study of Law is rare in confronting taboos of gender-related issues facing indigenous women in the context of legal battles for tribal sovereignty. The book takes a powerful stance to emphasize that an indigenous feminist approach does not undermine but is essential to inclusive and successful sovereignty. For Suzack, the role of indigenous women’s writing is a vital tool for imagining how this equitable sovereignty might be achieved."

Margery Fee:
"Suzack shows how Indigenous women writers can render the damage legal cases do to women understandable at an affective, personal, and family level. Although literature has often been regarded as a 'frill' from both mainstream and Indigenous perspectives, Suzack demonstrates how literature works as a form of social justice activism."

Sarah Deer:

‘After reading Suzack’s finely crafted monograph, I am left with a sense of hope and gratitude for what indigenous feminist literature can teach us about the quest for justice, which often takes place far from the courthouse doors.’

Lorraine Weir, Professor, Department of English, University of British Columbia:

"Cheryl Suzack's bold and highly innovative new book is a masterful work of Law and Literature scholarship which never loses sight of her commitment to make ideas defend the lives of Indigenous women. Strikingly original, ambitious and often dazzling in the clarity of its case analysis, this book is a breakthrough in Critical Indigenous Studies and a compelling read for anyone interested in Indigenous feminist politics and poetics."

N. Bruce Duthu, Samson Occom Professor of Native American Studies, Dartmouth College:

"The strength of Suzack’s book lies in its richly textured and considered analysis of Indigenous women’s literature, national law relating to Indigenous peoples in the US and Canada, and Indigenous feminist criticism. Scholars and general readers alike will benefit from Suzack’s insightful readings of legal and fictional narratives that remind us of the terrible legacy of colonialism but also of the resilience, beauty and wisdom of the First Nations."

Susan Bernardin, Professor and Chair of Women’s Studies, SUNY-Oneonta:

"Indigenous Women’s Writing is an ambitious and ground-breaking study that affirms the crucial work of engaging with the genealogies of settler colonial legal discourse, both broadly across the United States and Canada, and as experienced within the specific tribal communities. It is an an extraordinary feat of interdisciplinary scholarship and scholarly activism that opens up dynamic new spaces for Indigenous Studies, Indigenous literary studies, Indigenous Feminisms, and studies in Indigenous Law and Governance."