The Heirs of Columbus: A Study of Confrontation with Grand Narratives Mirroring Lyotard’s Perspective of Postmodernism

Abstract

Native Americans have always been misrepresented by Euro Americans. Euro Americans, with their hegemonic colonial construction have created and promoted the grand narrative about the marginalized Native Americans which are based on monolithic notions. Native Americans have always been misrepresented with stereotypical tags. Contrary to the mainstream narrative of dominant Euro Americans, the suppressed Native Americans have strived to reshape their true identity in their history and fiction. The study has been designed to bring to the center, the repressed Native Americans and their silenced truth about their identity, culture and history. The study is qualitative in nature and descriptive method has been used for the analysis of the selected novel. The analysis of the novel is grounded in Jean Francois Lyotard’s postmodernist lens that exclusively studies the subversion of grand narratives and promotion of mini narratives. The research is designed to highlight Vizenor’s effort to liberate Native Americans from toxic and monolithic notions. The present study is dedicated purely to the Native American stance of historical events and their culture and identity. The study, therefore, brings Native Americans to the center and relegates Euro-Americans to the periphery within the academic sphere of knowledge. The research finally winds up with the prospects for future research. I have suggested a study based on the comparison and contrast between Euro Americans’ officially documented histories of discovery of America by Christopher Columbus with the fictive history of the discovery of America by Vizenor. Lastly, I have recommended thorough research on denunciation of the Native American stereotyping by Vizenor in The Heirs of Columbus.

Keywords: Postmodernism, Native Americans, Euro Americans, Grand Narratives, Mini Narratives