Concept of body and sexuality in Native American novels

Abstract

The article analyzes various options for interpreting of the concept of corporeality in the works of such prominent Native American writers as N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Ignatia Broker. The essence of the "corporality" concept is revealed, scientific developments from the mentioned problems are analyzed. Gender relations and colonialism is not a new issue in modern literary criticism, since the conquered territories in the minds of the conquerors are partly represented by the body of a conquered woman. The institutionalization of the patriarchy as a system of social control and social order in colonial studies is transformed from a low level of familyformations into the highest levels of society and is reflected in the whole system of social relations. Indian body, as a rather exotic corporeality, plays an important role in this case. Having studied the specifics of the concept corporeality use in the novels of these writers, it can be argued that this concept is divided into two components - the "body" itself, as a physical object in space, and the perception of this body, which is a manifestation of the universal "corporeality" with the perception of gender roles and sexuality in the context of the Indian cultural tradition.