How Should I Read These? ― Native Women Writers in Canada

Hoy's (U. of Guelph) study draws on postcolonial, feminist, poststructuralist, and First Nations theory to explore the problems involved in reading and teaching a variety of works by Native women writers from the perspective of a cultural outsider. Chapters discuss works by Jeannette Armstrong, Maria Campbell, Linda Griffiths, Ruby Slipperjack, Beatrice Culleton, Beverly Hungry Wolf, Lee Maracle, and Eden Robinson. Hoy addresses basic theoretical questions of reader location, cultural difference, and cultural appropriation, concluding that the eight writers defy identity categories (such as "Native" and "woman") and that their work provides its own critical guides to how it should be read and taught. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

HELEN HOY is an Associate Professor at the School of Literatures and Performance Studies in English, University of Guelph.