Dreaming across Waters: Decolonial Belonging, Dreamscapes, and Waterviews in Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau’s Ourse bleue and Ayesha Harruna Attah’s The Deep Blue Between

In this article, we offer a comparative literary analysis of Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau’s Ourse bleue (2007) and Ayesha Harruna Attah’s The Deep Blue Between (2020) to explore how water and dreams operate as critical narrative devices in articulating decolonial possibilities. Our work foregrounds the distinctive and shared “waterviews” embedded in Eeyou Istchee and West African cultural traditions, revealing how these perspectives challenge and subvert the effects of colonization. The article showcases striking parallels in how these novels articulate water’s dual role. Set against distinct colonial backdrops—the contemporary settler colonial realities of Eeyou Istchee in Ourse bleue, and the historical legacies of intra-African enslavement and transatlantic slavery in The Deep Blue Between—both works employ water as a symbol of both deracination and empowerment. Furthermore, dreams, strengthened by water, in these narratives emerge as vital channels of (ancestral) knowledge and resistance, facilitating the protagonists’ quests for belonging in colonized and decolonial spaces. By focusing on the interplay between dreams and water, we trace how the protagonists’ experiences are shaped by their struggle to reconnect with disrupted spiritual and cultural landscapes. Dreams emerge as vital spaces where (ancestral) knowledge and resistance are encoded, offering alternative pathways to reclaim identity and belonging. By interweaving these narratives, the analysis not only critiques the enduring impacts of colonization but also amplifies the decolonial potential inherent in Indigenous and African ontologies. Ultimately, the article argues that the shared decolonial “waterviews” in these texts offer transformative insights into the politics of place, resistance, and relationality.