Spirals of (re)knowing: an analysis of the construction of place/space in women’s communities through ceremony in Joy Harjo's poetry

Graduation Date

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Program

Other

Program

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, English, Literature, 2014

Committee Chair Name

Barbara Curiel

Committee Chair Affiliation

Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Billie Holiday, Time, Consciousness, Feminism, Music, Spiral, Ceremony, Humboldt State University -- Theses -- English, Poetry, Language, Poem, Narrative therapy, Communities, Indian, Strange Fruit, Harjo, Ritual, Native, Allen, Women, Paula Gunn

Abstract

My Master's Project explores the construction of place/space in Harjo's poems as a form of ceremony. I argue that Harjo utilizes language as a tool to construct the place/space necessary for her as well as her communities to engage in discourse with each other in resistance. The following elements of ceremony, time/memory and song/dance/drum are linked together with place/space through Harjo's continued membership and contribution to her communities of women of color. Ultimately, I argue Harjo uses the strength she gains from her membership and contribution to her communities to confront and transform from her encounter with cultural knowing. I do so through a close analysis of the connections between Harjo, Harjo's persona as speaker, and her communities in her poems "Anchorage," "Call it Fear," and "Strange Fruit."

https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/theses/hq37vq91b

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