This book uses the concepts of voice, identity, gender, and experience to develop law and literature that builds on these insights. The four novels in this case study are:

1. Ceremony by Leslie Silko

2. In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Mosionier

3. The Antelope Wife by Louise Erdrich

4. Last Standing Woman by Winona LaDuke

The novels within this particular book focus on how Indigenous women writings after the civil rights period of the late 1960’s, where they tell their stories of struggle and battling for social awareness and political rights.

The author illustrates how colonial law and legislation limit Indigenous women’s political, cultural, and social authority. Also, she shows how women’s identities and cultural knowledge are foundational to social reform. She includes side by side comparisons of legal cases and gives examples in her readings of the various authors and the central role Indigenous women writers’ play in social and political activism.

Cheryl Suzack is an associate professor of English and Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto. She is a member of the Batchewana First Nation. https://prairieedge.com/ indigenous-women-s-writingand the-cultural-study-oflaw/