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A Tribal Justice and Historical Justice in Erdrich’s The Plague of Doves: Focusing on Their Reparative Characters

  • Cross-Cultural Studies
  • 2022, 67(), pp.241-266
  • Publisher : Center for Cross Culture Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Literature
  • Received : August 10, 2022
  • Accepted : October 4, 2022
  • Published : October 31, 2022

Jin Man Jeong 1

1영남대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This essay explores how Louise Erdrich’s The Plague of Doves deals with the issue of justice concerning the colonial history of the Ojibwes and what its significance is. This study argues that the novel provides ‘reparative justice’ as a leitmotif at an historical level as well as at a judicial level. First, this study explores how Anishinaabe tribal justice is carried out in Ojibwe judge Coutts’ peacemaking court, using the Anishinaabe traditional concept of mino-bimaadiziwin (the Good Life) as its foundation. Second, this study elucidates how the novel highlights the importance of remembering in order to disclose long-misconceived historical truth and to accuse whites of “mob violence” against Native Americans. The novel’s multifaceted and intricate approach to reparative justice anticipates the Native Americans regaining their own sovereignty, healing, and persistent survival.

Citation status

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