Secrecy, Suspicion, Exposure
Negotiating Authority Structures in a Settler Colonial Society as Depicted in Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s The Ox-Bow Incident
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6187814 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marek Paryż (0000-0003-1108-2892, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2020-12-17 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of American Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1991-9336 • E-ISSN: 1991-9336 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/ejas.16518 |
| OpenAlex | W3120694291 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
The article discusses the ways in which Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s 1940 novel The Ox-Bow Incident problematizes the issues of secrecy, suspicion, gossip and exposure as a basis for the depiction of a variety of regulatory practices in a hierarchized settler society whose structures of authority enter a phase of renegotiation. The novel can be read as a portrayal of the Far West’s transition toward a more egalitarian and modern social organization. Clark depicts a stratified society in which striving for a form of advancement is a shared necessity that powerfully influences individual mindsets, and this tendency can redefine even the entrenched hierarchies. Secrecy and suspicion exemplify the tactics through which individual interests fuel a larger process of the renegotiation of power relations within the settler collective
Archaeology · Colonialism · Negotiation · Political science · Secrecy · Archaeology and Natural History · History · Law
| Highly cited | No |
|---|