Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Major/Program
English
First Advisor's Name
Anne M. Castro
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee chair
Second Advisor's Name
Vanessa Sohan
Second Advisor's Committee Title
Committee member
Third Advisor's Name
Mark Kelley
Third Advisor's Committee Title
Committee member
Fourth Advisor's Name
Michael Grafals
Fourth Advisor's Committee Title
Committee member
Keywords
indigenous, popular romance, compensatory literature, women's literature, indigenous identity, white women
Date of Defense
3-31-2023
Abstract
Widely popular in the 1980s and 1990s, indigenously themed popular romance novels follow the literary tradition of white women writing about captivity at the hands of men of color, a tradition cemented in Mary Rowlandson’s original account of captivity in the early days of the American imperial project. By exploring two exemplary texts within the genre, “Savage Nights” by Cassie Edwards, and “Savage Ecstasy” by Janelle Taylor this paper contends that the indigenously themed popular romance novels fulfill certain compensatory functions for their white women readers. These needs include the revalidation of white femininity and the construction of faux cultural identities that allow white women to take on mantles of indigeneity and temporarily escape the nexus of domesticity and white patriarchy by engaging in sexual relationships that could perhaps be perceived as less harmful but retain white women within the comfortably understood roles of heterosexual relationships.
Identifier
FIDC011062
Recommended Citation
Serrano, Joy Alexandra, "Going Native: Indigenous Representation in the American Popular Romance Novel" (2023). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5272.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5272
Included in
American Popular Culture Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Rights Statement
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).