Fry Bread as a "Lieu de Mémoire"

<p class="ql-align-justify">This article explores the role of children’s literature in transmitting memories across generations. Using Kevin Noble Maillard’s <em>Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story</em> as the primary text, the study analyses the children’s picture books as a <em>lieu de mémoire</em> or sites of memory. As defined by Pierre Nora, <em>lieux de mémoire</em> are active sites of memory where remembering is considered a voluntary act. Portraying <em>Fry Bread</em> as the cultural trope for the transmission of the Native American history of migration, this study investigates the interrelationship between food and memory and its significance in the history of migration. Further, the article evaluates remembering as a deliberate act in which both the author and the children play an active role. Through the conceptual lens of second-generation memory and autobiographical memory, the study investigates the author’s role as a cultural transmitter and the children as active recipients of those memories.</p>