(Dis)Empowerment of native americans in Orson Scott Card's the tales of alvin maker

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the portrayal of Native Americans in Orson Scott Card's The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987-2003), an alternative history of the US, in which the author condemns the country's colonial history. However, in spite of his obvious sympathy for Native people, Card does not manage to avoid the traps awaiting a non-Native author writing about tribal communities. The following article demonstrates how Card both empowers his Indigenous characters and undermines their empowerment. The framework for the analysis is provided by Gerald Vizenor's theories regarding the simulation of Native presence in the dominant culture, persistence of stereotypical indians, concept of survivance, and possible retrieval of Native sovereignty.