Tracing Colonial Constructions of Collective Cognitive Illusions in Indigenous Cultures: A Study of Diane Glancy’s Novels

Abstract

Cognitive illusions are a pervasive psychological issue, causing judgemental problems. They are closely related to heuristics and biases in psychology and are considered systematic errors in thinking that can lead the human minds to misinterpret reality and form false beliefs. Similarly, as one’s perception of the world is shaped by influences from history, literature, nature, and personal as well as shared experiences, all the influences may also have the potential to generate misconceptions that spread widely and eventually become collective cognitive illusions. It distorts beliefs that communities accept and repeatedly reinforce. Such misconceptions often enter narratives and further solidify these illusions. Writers influenced by these beliefs may unintentionally become carriers and ambassadors of the illusion through their literary works.This paper studies the collective cognitive illusions around Native American communities as framed by the European authors, historians and travelers. In contrast, the works of Native American writers function as a counter-discourse, challenging and dismantling these illusions that shape mainstream perceptions and realities. The study applies a cognitive narratology in a few works of a Native American author, Diane Glancy, to analyse how she has handled the cognitive illusion spun by the colonisers. Cognitive narratology, a subfield of postclassical narratology proposed by David Herman in the 1990s, further support to know how mainstream people buy the narrative of the colonisers and how they develop negative perceptions upon indigenous people.