Decolonial Animal Ethic and Indigenous Veganism in Eden Robinson’s The Trickster Trilogy
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
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| Description | In the present colonial context, discussions about the position and treatment of other-than-human animals abound in Indigenous communities but food ethics remains a controversial topic. The award-winning First Nation writer Eden Robinson (Haisla/Heiltsuk) reflects this debate in her latest novels Son of a Trickster (2017) and Trickster Drift (2018). This paper analyses Robinson’s novels through the lens of Billy-Ray Belcourt's decolonial animal ethic that sees decolonization of Indigenous peoples and other-than-human animals as interconnected. Robinson presents several human and other-than-human characters with divergent points of view on food ethics, the relationship between human and other-than-human animals, and decolonization. Furthermore, by focusing on the intersections of violence against (Indigenous) women and other-than-human animals, the novels put emphasis on the concurrent liberation of both. The novels highlight the significance of food decolonization and as such constitute an important addition to decolonial narratives that challenge the Western anthropocentric worldview. |