Volume III Special Issue VIII August 2023

Name of Author : Litty Ranj R

Title of the paper : Reimagining Motherhood and Identity in Louise Erdrichs The Antelope Wife

Abstract: This study examines the reconfiguration of motherhood and identity in The Antelope Wife by Louise Erdrich, situating maternal experience within Indigenous cosmology, history, and intergenerational memory. The novel intertwines myth and contemporary reality to portray motherhood as both a personal relationship and a cultural institution shaped by displacement, violence, and resilience. Through multiple generations of women, Erdrich challenges Euro American notions of linear identity and nuclear family structures, instead presenting motherhood as communal, fluid, and spiritually interconnected. Maternal figures in the novel negotiate loss, adoption, separation, and reunion, reflecting the broader historical disruptions experienced by Native communities. The maternal bond becomes a site of storytelling, healing, and cultural transmission, where identity is not fixed but continuously reshaped through memory and kinship networks. By blending Ojibwe mythic elements with modern urban experience, Erdrich reimagines motherhood as a transformative force that sustains both individual selfhood and collective survival. This paper argues that identity in the novel emerges through relationality rather than autonomy, emphasizing interconnectedness over individualism. Ultimately, The Antelope Wife presents motherhood as a dynamic process that reconstructs fractured histories and affirms Indigenous continuity in the face of cultural fragmentation.

Keywords : Motherhood, Indigenous Identity, Intergenerational Memory, Cultural Continuity, Relational Selfhood

DOI :

Page Number : 93-95