Denna kandidatuppsats undersöker de olika diskurser angående det övernaturliga som närvarar i Eden Robinsons roman Monkey Beach (2000) utifrån ett postkolonialt perspektiv. Det teoretiska ramverket består av Jo-Ann Episkenews indigenous storytelling, samt Michail Bachtins dialogicitetsbegrepp, där heteroglossi fungerar som utgångspunkt. Dessa har använts för att analysera hur Robinson använder sig av karaktärer för att gestalta olika epistemologier, och hur dessa relaterar till synen på det övernaturliga i romanen. Uppsatsens slutsats är att Monkey Beach är polyfon i sin gestaltning av de olika perspektiven på det övernaturliga; dessa perspektiv utgör olika diskurser, vilket gestaltas genom karaktärerna. Romanen utspelar sig inte i ett autonomt fiktivt universum; den fungerar som en motdiskurs till tidigare diskurser om urfolk i Kanada, vilket ger den både en avkoloniserande och kunskapsspridande funktion då den är skriven av en urfolksförfattare. / This undergraduate dissertation examines the various discourses surrounding the supernatural present in Eden Robinson’s novel Monkey Beach (2000) from a postcolonial perspective. The theoretical framework consists of Jo-Ann Episkenew’s Indigenous Storytelling, as well as Michail Bachtin’s concept of dialogism, with heteroglossia as its basis. These have been applied to the text to analyse how Robinson utilises characters to depict different epistemologies, and how they relate to the portrayal of the supernatural in the novel. The conclusion of this dissertation is that Monkey Beach is polyphonic in its portrayal of the various perspectives of the supernatural; these perspectives constitute different discourses, which are depicted through the characters. The novel does not take place in an autonomous fictional universe; it functions as a counter-discourse to previous discourses about Indigenous peoples in Canada, which gives it a decolonising and knowledge-disseminating function as it is written by an Indigenous author.

<p>This thesis explores the intersection of storytelling and spirituality in contemporary Native literature in Canada. The invocation of the oral tradition and its history will be examined in the works of Eden Robinson, Joseph Boyden, and Harry Robinson, as each author attempts to orient his or her narratives within a First Nations framework. By gesturing towards orality in their written literature, these authors acknowledge the dialogic nature of a narrative that has been shaped by ancestral experiences and memory and thus write against the colonial master narrative of the contemporary Canadian nation-state. In Joseph Boyden's <em>Through Black Spruce</em>, Eden Robinson's <em>Monkey Beach</em>, and the transcribed collections of Harry Robinson's stories, the invocation of orality becomes the vehicle through which to explore Indigenous ways of knowing and traditional spiritual beliefs. This thesis first considers the ways in which the mode of storytelling allows each author to create a new narrative that introduces readers to an Indigenous perspective on the processes of history. It then examines the evolution of specific spiritual beings from traditional narratives into contemporary settings as a way to explore neocolonial attitudes and the compromised contexts of modern Indigenous life in communities across Canada that continue to be haunted by a legacy of colonialism. I end with an exploration of the potential for healing that each author envisions as communities move into a decolonization process through the regeneration of tribal languages, a reconnection to sacred space, and a reimagining of the Canadian master narrative and its colonial interpretation of history.</p> / Master of English