The Trail to Healing: Environmental Injustice and Trauma in Linda Hogan's Novels

Abstract

Throughout the course of her four novels, Chickasaw author Linda Hogan represents the trauma among Native American peoples caused by exposure to environmental injustice over centuries. Her fictional characters struggle against a hostile environment to find healing for themselves and their communities. In this thesis, I discuss Hogan's characters and communities in light of various concepts of trauma -- including Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), complex-PTSD, and historical and cultural trauma. I analyze the usefulness of these concepts in studying Hogan's characters, finally identifying Hogan's own vision of healing, which involves community activism for social and environmental justice.