Antelope Woman

Content Warning: This guide contains discussions of the source text’s depictions of sexual assault, domestic violence, suicide, and substance abuse disorders.

Antelope Woman engages with many key moments in the history of the Ojibwe people in the centuries following the settler-colonial takeover of their ancestral lands, but its depiction of the impact of relocation policies plays the greatest role within the framework of the narrative. Erdrich depicts the way that mass-migration to cities ripped individuals away both from the support of their family networks and from the communities where they grew up surrounded by history, tradition, and cultural knowledge. She does this through discussion of policies such as the Indian Relocation Act, through the symbolism evident in the character of Sweetheart Calico, and through her depiction of the impact of relocation on other members of the Roy and Shawano families.

At various points in the narrative, Erdrich provides background information on the many assimilationist policies the US government enacted in order to encourage Indigenous peoples to move away from their own cultures and immerse themselves in mainstream society. Although she does discuss the Dawes Act (characters Giizis and Noodin still live on their family’s Dawes-era allotment), it is the Indian Relocation Act whose impact is felt the most by the Roy and Shawano families. Although the government billed this act as an opportunity for Indigenous people to pursue new career opportunities in urban centers like Minneapolis, the act ultimately sought to “[g]et them off the land! Away from one another. Split apart those families just getting to know one another after boarding school” (129). Klaus, Richard, Cecile, and Rozin all find themselves in Minneapolis in the years following the Relocation Act, and they are all shown to have lost connection to both their families and their culture because of this move.

Sweetheart Calico best embodies the impact of the Relocation Act. She is a character with deep ties to tradition and myth who finds herself lost in the city as the result of being kidnapped by Klaus. This kidnapping, although in part an engagement with the issue of gender-based violence, is also a metaphor for the coercive tactics used by the US Government to “encourage” Indigenous men and women to leave their rural homes and make their way to cities. People were promised jobs, money, and opportunities, but the reality was often markedly different, and many Indigenous men and women found themselves struggling in a society where they were not valued or treated with respect. Additionally, without the support systems provided by family and community, many did not have the tools they needed to succeed. Sweetheart Calico is forced to leave her homeland, and in the city she is removed from her daughters and her community—both sources of strength for her. That she ends up succumbing to alcohol misuse, wandering the streets, and engaging in various acts of self-destruction is a metaphor for the lived experiences of Indigenous men and women. Additionally, that her difficulties are rooted in isolation and separation speaks to the way that problems like addiction and violence are often rooted in complex, generational trauma.

Sweetheart Calico is not the only character shown to be adversely impacted by the Relocation Act. Richard Whiteheart Beads, although not a particularly sympathetic figure, feels keenly the absence of traditional knowledge in his upbringing. He theorizes that he could have been a different person entirely if he had been able to grow up on his reservation, surrounded by family and immersed in the cultural practices that go back for thousands of years within Ojibwe communities. Klaus’s bad behavior is also shown to be rooted in isolation and disconnection. He identifies as an “urban Indian,” and although he initially makes a living on the powwow circuit, the impression given is that he is not particularly connected to Ojibwe tradition or his own Indigeneity. That he is able to subject Sweetheart Calico to abuse is shown to be in part caused by his lack of connection to Ojibwe tradition, and he is not able to heal himself or treat her with respect until he recognizes the importance of her cultural identity. Rozin, too, suffers as the result of living in the city. As the novel progresses, she becomes increasingly mired in confusion about how to parent her children and whether or not to embrace a relationship with Frank. She resolves this confusion in part by returning home to Giizis and Noodin on reservation land, demonstrating that the solution to complex problems of identity and relation are found in family, tradition, and Indigenous culture.