[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":192},["ShallowReactive",2],{"article:the-strangers-intergenerational-storytelling-and-collective-memory-making":3,"page:48":119,"page:321":155},{"id":4,"slug":5,"title":6,"excerpt":7,"date":8,"year":9,"formattedDate":10,"typeIds":11,"typeNames":13,"wordCount":15,"isBlack":16,"image":17,"contributors":24,"contentHtml":29,"finalContentHtml":30,"creditsHtml":31,"pdfUrl":32,"vimeo":32,"contributorBios":33,"seo":38},993,"the-strangers-intergenerational-storytelling-and-collective-memory-making","The Strangers: Intergenerational Storytelling and Collective Memory-Making","\u003Cp>Jessica Johns reviews the latest novel from Katherena Vermette.\u003C\u002Fp>\n","2021-11-15T14:48:43",2021,"Nov 2021",[12],9,[14],"Review",862,false,{"src":18,"srcset":19,"width":20,"height":21,"alt":22,"lqip":23},"https:\u002F\u002Fcms.reissue.pub\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2021\u002F11\u002Fthestrangers-50.jpg","https:\u002F\u002Fcms.reissue.pub\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2021\u002F11\u002Fthestrangers-50-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcms.reissue.pub\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2021\u002F11\u002Fthestrangers-50-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\u002F\u002Fcms.reissue.pub\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2021\u002F11\u002Fthestrangers-50.jpg 1920w",1920,1080,"Feature image for The Strangers review","data:image\u002Fwebp;base64,UklGRoIAAABXRUJQVlA4IHYAAABQBACdASogABIAPu1osFAppaUiqAqpMB2JZQDI1BBHWVjSqAMrfysL8tYAAP58NjLVaKj4Ku4CDcaQVIsZsRW\u002FNBiEKPlazMGJ8ZkJm5T5bP5gbcM\u002Fztn8v2g+HHX8zXUzs9X4YCv55c1t5BroQPe2hKw4RAAA",[25],{"id":26,"name":27,"slug":28},769,"Jessica Johns","jessica-john","\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003Cspan class=\"lqip-wrap\" style=\"background-image:url("data:image\u002Fsvg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\u002F\u002Fwww.w3.org\u002F2000\u002Fsvg' viewBox='0 0 320 180'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\u002F%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\u002F%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\u002F%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\u002F%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\u002F%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\u002F%3E%3C\u002Ffilter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\u002Fwebp;base64,UklGRtYAAABXRUJQVlA4IMoAAABQBQCdASogABIAPu1kqE2ppaOiMAgBMB2JYwCxB1RAUCFYuF+Sz466ycZRtt7NKFqe5BAA\u002FKZaUgyMSxBQFaCFamexzw2zK2kgWvuD4lFqiNEMeMikhJUqrlil65dTFbGhk4Gv2S\u002FCqYkxkBf+hsS2tWFySl681R2bS66U7rA8kb4lLzyEkkqBmI0hX\u002F8uScPDaakKOAQTjRGi3dP+b+8yvyDbZznATG4yNYL\u002FI8HPFAnYTIKvHBvmOhPIayvztDGxlxuXb1FoDwAA'\u002F%3E%3C\u002Fsvg%3E")\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcms.reissue.pub\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2021\u002F11\u002Fthestrangers-feature.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"lqip wp-image-994\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcms.reissue.pub\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2021\u002F11\u002Fthestrangers-feature.jpg 1920w, https:\u002F\u002Fcms.reissue.pub\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2021\u002F11\u002Fthestrangers-feature-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcms.reissue.pub\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2021\u002F11\u002Fthestrangers-feature-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\u002F\u002Fcms.reissue.pub\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2021\u002F11\u002Fthestrangers-feature-100x56.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \u002F>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cfigcaption>\u003Cem>The Strangers \u003C\u002Fem>cover, and author Katherena Vermette.\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since Katherena Vermette’s best-selling 2016 debut \u003Cem>The Break\u003C\u002Fem>, a novel set in Winnipeg circling a violent incident and its effects on various characters surrounding it, I have been waiting for a companion novel, the recently released \u003Cem>The Strangers\u003C\u002Fem> from Penguin Random House. Vermette is known for her varied body of work, from poetry, fiction, graphic forms, and film. Whatever genre she’s working in, her attention to character complexity over conventional narrative structure offers insights into the way Indigenous, and in this case Métis, storytelling centers around relationships and lessons that ask the reader to reflect, rather than impart instruction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003Cem>The Strangers\u003C\u002Fem> begins where \u003Cem>The Break\u003C\u002Fem> left off and spans a total of five years, following the shifting perspectives of four generational Métis women in the Stranger family: Elsie; her daughters, Phoenix and Cedar Sage; and her mother, Margaret. Readers will recall some recurring characters from \u003Cem>The Break\u003C\u002Fem>, but here their lives, insights, and journeys are brought to the forefront. For example, although Phoenix appears in \u003Cem>The Break\u003C\u002Fem>, \u003Cem>The Strangers \u003C\u002Fem>brings her more into focus as we dig deeper into her life and the lives of her immediate family members. The novels stand on their own, although reading both enriches the understanding of the characters. As each new chapter alternates between character’s perspectives, readers are drawn into their different, often conflicting thoughts and memories. The shifting viewpoints give readers an omnipotence that the characters don’t have, revealing the nuanced and complex causal forces at work; we see each character through the eyes of the others, giving us a layered understanding of each person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is through this method of complex storytelling that Vermette portrays how intergenerational knowledge is passed on through lived experiences codified into stories that evolve, change, and grow with each new telling. In \u003Cem>The Strangers\u003C\u002Fem>, each character has memories about their family that don’t always come from their own personal experiences. While this could lead to the old literary discussion about reliable vs. unreliable narrators in writing, the use of it here resonates deeper as the story takes as its subject the lives of Indigenous communities in so-called Canada. We can certainly understand this as one of the many ways in which Indigenous peoples keep their stories alive: by recalling memories and retelling them to their family members. The novel also shines a light on the ways by which colonialism and the systems perpetuating harm against Indigenous peoples attempt to erode relationships and kinship-making by trying to sever the relationality created by this type of storytelling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leanne Betasamosake Simpson writes in \u003Cem>As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance\u003C\u002Fem> that the power held by Indigenous women, queer bodies, and children is such a formidable threat to the settler state that it has “resulted in the legally mandated disappearance of Indigenous women through the Indian Act, policy, and the criminal justice system… of children, as our greatest potential, through residential schools and the child welfare system.”\u003Cspan id='easy-footnote-1-993'>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan class='easy-footnote'>\u003Csup id='easy-footnote-1-993' content='Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, \u003Cem>As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance\u003C\u002Fem> (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017), 115.' v-tippy='{ allowHTML: true }'>1\u003C\u002Fsup>\u003C\u002Fspan> By detailing the ways in which child and family services, health services, academia, and prisons fail Margaret, Elsie, Phoenix, and Cedar Sage at every turn, we see how generational stories have also been impacted by these violences.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many memories Cedar Sage tells of her father are actually stories told to her by others, since he was incarcerated when she was young and then moved away from the family soon after he was released. She acknowledges that these memories do, in fact, come from other people. After recalling a memory, she states:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\u003Cp>\u003Cem>That’s how I remember everything about my family, like it might not be my own real memory at all. Only some thing I thought about something my mom or Phoenix or my dad said to me.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003Cspan id='easy-footnote-2-993'>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan class='easy-footnote'>\u003Csup id='easy-footnote-2-993' content='Katherena Vermette, \u003Cem>The Strangers\u003C\u002Fem> (Hamilton: Penguin Random House, 2021), 222.' v-tippy='{ allowHTML: true }'>2\u003C\u002Fsup>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some memories, too, are simply created as a tool for survival. Elsie, separated from her newest grandchild at birth, creates memories she couldn’t possibly have of her grandchild by conflating them with memories of Sparrow, her youngest child, who died before the events in the novel take place. Both these instances speak to the ways through which stories become a part of ourselves —  over time, the stories we share become indistinguishable from our own history or someone else’s. Passed down through generations, this is how stories become stitched onto our bodies and into the collective memory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vermette’s richly descriptive focus on four characters in \u003Cem>The Strangers \u003C\u002Fem>invites readers deep into their worlds: worlds set in different areas of Winnipeg and that host completely distinct experiences. By centering character development as the main driving force of the story, she reveals the intricate methods of Indigenous intergenerational storytelling, a tradition that has persisted despite colonial suppression. Vermette shows us how Indigenous peoples, as always, use storytelling to circumvent this disruption as a means to strengthen kinship networks and to preserve the fact that our memories are long, living, and point to the future just as much as the past.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cdiv style=\"height:60px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\">\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003Cdiv class=\"easy-footnote-title\">\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Notes:\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fdiv>\u003Col class=\"easy-footnotes-wrapper\">\u003Cli class=\"easy-footnote-single\">\u003Cspan id=\"easy-footnote-bottom-1-993\" class=\"easy-footnote-margin-adjust\">\u003C\u002Fspan>Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, \u003Cem>As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance\u003C\u002Fem> (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017), 115.\u003Ca class=\"easy-footnote-to-top\" href=\"#easy-footnote-1-993\" aria-label=\"Back to note 1 in the text\">\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"easy-footnote-single\">\u003Cspan id=\"easy-footnote-bottom-2-993\" class=\"easy-footnote-margin-adjust\">\u003C\u002Fspan>Katherena Vermette, \u003Cem>The Strangers\u003C\u002Fem> (Hamilton: Penguin Random House, 2021), 222.\u003Ca class=\"easy-footnote-to-top\" href=\"#easy-footnote-2-993\" aria-label=\"Back to note 2 in the text\">\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Fol>","\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Images:\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Col>\n\u003Cli>KC Adams. Cover, \u003Cem>The Strangers.\u003C\u002Fem> Designed by Jennifer Griffiths. Katherena Vermette, Penguin Random House, 2021.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>Vanda Fleury. Katherena Vermette author photo, 2021. Courtesy Katherena Vermette.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Fol>\n","",null,[34],{"id":26,"slug":28,"name":27,"firstName":35,"lastName":36,"bioHtml":37},"Jessica","Johns","\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003Cstrong>Jessica Johns\u003C\u002Fstrong> is a nehiyaw aunty with English-Irish ancestry and a member of Sucker Creek First Nation in Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta. Her short story “Bad Cree” won the 2020 Writers’ Trust Journey Prize and her novel of the same name will be released in January 2023 with HarperCollins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n",{"title":39,"robots":40,"og_locale":46,"og_type":47,"og_title":39,"og_description":48,"og_url":49,"og_site_name":50,"article_publisher":51,"article_modified_time":52,"og_image":53,"twitter_card":56,"twitter_site":57,"twitter_misc":58,"schema":60},"The Strangers: Intergenerational Storytelling and Collective Memory-Making - ReIssue",{"index":41,"follow":42,"max-snippet":43,"max-image-preview":44,"max-video-preview":45},"noindex","follow","max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview:-1","en_US","article","Jessica Johns reviews the latest novel from Katherena Vermette.","https:\u002F\u002Freissue.pub\u002Farticles\u002Fthe-strangers-intergenerational-storytelling-and-collective-memory-making\u002F","ReIssue","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.facebook.com\u002Freissue.pub\u002F","2021-11-24T20:44:55+00:00",[54],{"width":20,"height":21,"url":18,"type":55},"image\u002Fjpeg","summary_large_image","@reissuepub",{"Est. reading time":59},"4 minutes",{"@context":61,"@graph":62},"https:\u002F\u002Fschema.org",[63,78,80,94,109],{"@type":64,"@id":49,"url":49,"name":39,"isPartOf":65,"primaryImageOfPage":67,"image":69,"thumbnailUrl":18,"datePublished":70,"dateModified":52,"breadcrumb":71,"inLanguage":73,"potentialAction":74},"WebPage",{"@id":66},"https:\u002F\u002Freissue.pub\u002F#website",{"@id":68},"https:\u002F\u002Freissue.pub\u002Farticles\u002Fthe-strangers-intergenerational-storytelling-and-collective-memory-making\u002F#primaryimage",{"@id":68},"2021-11-15T22:48:43+00:00",{"@id":72},"https:\u002F\u002Freissue.pub\u002Farticles\u002Fthe-strangers-intergenerational-storytelling-and-collective-memory-making\u002F#breadcrumb","en-US",[75],{"@type":76,"target":77},"ReadAction",[49],{"@type":79,"inLanguage":73,"@id":68,"url":18,"contentUrl":18,"width":20,"height":21,"caption":22},"ImageObject",{"@type":81,"@id":72,"itemListElement":82},"BreadcrumbList",[83,88,92],{"@type":84,"position":85,"name":86,"item":87},"ListItem",1,"Home","https:\u002F\u002Freissue.pub\u002F",{"@type":84,"position":89,"name":90,"item":91},2,"Articles","https:\u002F\u002Freissue.pub\u002Farticles\u002F",{"@type":84,"position":93,"name":6},3,{"@type":95,"@id":66,"url":87,"name":50,"description":96,"publisher":97,"potentialAction":99,"inLanguage":73},"WebSite","critical discourse for experimental art practices",{"@id":98},"https:\u002F\u002Freissue.pub\u002F#organization",[100],{"@type":101,"target":102,"query-input":105},"SearchAction",{"@type":103,"urlTemplate":104},"EntryPoint","https:\u002F\u002Freissue.pub\u002F?s={search_term_string}",{"@type":106,"valueRequired":107,"valueName":108},"PropertyValueSpecification",true,"search_term_string",{"@type":110,"@id":98,"name":50,"url":87,"logo":111,"image":115,"sameAs":116},"Organization",{"@type":79,"inLanguage":73,"@id":112,"url":113,"contentUrl":113,"width":20,"height":114,"caption":50},"https:\u002F\u002Freissue.pub\u002F#\u002Fschema\u002Flogo\u002Fimage\u002F","https:\u002F\u002Fcms.reissue.pub\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2022\u002F06\u002Freissue_logo.jpg",1118,{"@id":112},[51,117,118],"https:\u002F\u002Fx.com\u002Freissuepub","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.instagram.com\u002Freissue.pub\u002F",{"id":120,"slug":121,"title":86,"contentHtml":31,"acf":122,"backgroundBlur":125,"seo":126},48,"home",{"background_image":123,"isBlack":16,"header_text":124},"https:\u002F\u002Fcms.reissue.pub\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2026\u002F11\u002Fdaisy_reissue_2.jpg","ReIssue: art and criticism in \u003Cbr>\r\nthe cosmos of cultural production","url(\"data:image\u002Fsvg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\u002F\u002Fwww.w3.org\u002F2000\u002Fsvg' viewBox='0 0 320 213'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\u002F%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\u002F%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\u002F%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\u002F%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\u002F%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\u002F%3E%3C\u002Ffilter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\u002Fwebp;base64,UklGRoIAAABXRUJQVlA4IHYAAADwBACdASogABUAPu1qqlEppaOiqAqpMB2JZwAAKf0c+TYjyG8vhTeRaShCpli8uAAA\u002FnFf8QBzP1T7FqMQfN+5P0sEZp4TM\u002FtvUeu\u002F6PKH+GHrebLLz8IW4Q6wQ5kHZO6aqggnKrdkv+u62izeOgqi4jMyAAAA'\u002F%3E%3C\u002Fsvg%3E\")",{"title":127,"robots":128,"og_locale":46,"og_type":47,"og_title":127,"og_url":129,"og_site_name":50,"article_publisher":51,"article_modified_time":130,"twitter_card":56,"twitter_site":57,"schema":131},"Home - 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