Volume VI Special Issue VI September 2026

Name of Author : Sunitha Mathew

Title of the paper : Community as a Relational Archive An Indigenous Epistemological System in Cherie Dimalines The Marrow Thieves

Abstract: Cherie Dimalines The Marrow Thieves 2017 explores Indigenous survival in a dystopian future shaped by environmental collapse, colonial violence, and cultural erasure. This paper argues that The Marrow Thieves reimagines community as a relational archive a living Indigenous epistemological system in which knowledge, memory, language, stories, ceremonies, and cultural values are continuously created, shared, and renewed through relationships among people, land, ancestors, and future generations. Employing qualitative textual analysis informed by Indigenous literary criticism, the study draws primarily on Shawn Wilsons concept of relationality, while engaging Leanne Betasamosake Simpsons understanding of land-based learning, Linda Tuhiwai Smiths critique of colonial epistemic violence, and Gerald Vizenors theory of survivance. The analysis demonstrates that the travelling community functions not merely as a site of collective survival but as a dynamic space of knowledge production that protects Indigenous epistemologies from colonial erasure and ensures their continuity across generations. By shifting critical attention from the survival of Indigenous bodies to the continuity of Indigenous ways of knowing, the paper contributes to contemporary discussions on Indigenous literature, decolonial knowledge systems, and Indigenous futurisms. Dimalines novel ultimately affirms that Indigenous futures are sustained through the enduring relationships that constitute community itself.

Keywords : Indigenous futurism, community, relational archive, Indigenous epistemology, survivance

DOI :

Page Number : 253-258