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. Robinson sheds light on the precarious lives nonhuman animals lead in the Anthropocene and condemns environmental destruction that she links to expansive colonialism and thirst for profit, power, and status. The Trilogy also underscores the role of ethics of consumption in the context of settler-colonial society and highlights the importance of food decolonization for the environment and both human and nonhuman animals. On several Indigenous vegan characters who reject the normative carnist diet, Robinson introduces veganism as a decolonial resistance. “Meat” serves as a symbol of patriarchal colonization and by linking violence against Indigenous women and nonhuman animals, The Trilogy argues for the concurrent liberation of both. |
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