Power and Resistance in Ta-Nehisi Coates’s The Water Dancer and Kawai Strong Washburn’s Sharks in the Time of Saviors.

Abstract

This study attempts to explore power and resistance and their interactions in Ta-Nehisi Coates’s The Water Dancer and Kawai Strong Washburn’s Sharks in the Time of Saviors. It aims to focus on how magical realism defines power dynamics in various prospective and how it serves as an innovative mechanism of resistance. Both Power and resistance are conceptualized as dominant and reversed forces during the act of control. Besides, the power is examined based on Foucault’s theoretical viewpoint which affirms that wherever power is found, there is resistance as well. Coates represents Hiram’s ability of conduction as a supernatural symbolic power deeply-rooted in memory in the novel. Throughout the magical element, the author creates an alternative reality that memory and trauma used as a source for equality and liberation. Similarly, Washburn utilizes Nainoa’s miraculous ability of healing as a reversed power in a nature of resistance against existed systematic forces in the text. Nainoa’s supernatural ability is deeply linked to Hawaiian mythology in which it serves as a metaphorical force for recovering cultural identity and opposing systemic forces that marginalize indigenous Hawaiians. Finally, this study concludes that both novels merge realism with magical realism to challenge outdated power structures. The authors portray power through oppressive systems, by the magical elements, both offer alternative pathways toward fairness and self-liberation. It emphasizes on inseparableness of power and resistance, besides, it highlights that magical realism provides a powerful mechanism to reimagine reality in contemporary literature.