Matrilineal Memory in ShellShaker by LeAnne Howe: Women's Role in the Transmission of Native American Identity

This paper explores the idea of matrilineal memory in LeAnne Howe's Shell Shaker, highlighting the crucial part that women play in the Choctaw community's preservation and transmission of Native American identity. The book highlights the importance of female ancestry in maintaining cultural knowledge, customs, and resistance against colonial erasure while spanning several generations and fusing stories from the 18th century with those from the present. Shell Shaker demonstrates how women serve as channels of cultural memory by connecting the past to the present through ritual, storytelling, and lived experience through its non-linear structure and spiritual ties throughout time. In opposition to patriarchal and Eurocentric historical frames, the ancestral voices of Choctaw women warriors, mothers, and healers act as potent representations of Persistance and continuity. This research examines how Howe revitalizes and reclaims Indigenous epistemologies by emphasizing matrilineal lineage as a means of identity creation and survival, drawing on memory studies and Indigenous feminist theory. The story reinforces the power of oral traditions, spiritual heritage, and community ties by presenting women as cultural stewards and change agents. Finally, Shell Shaker provides an insightful reflection on how memory, which has its roots in the maternal line, plays a crucial role in reaffirming Native identity, sovereignty, and healing across generations.