- Spiritual Hybridity in Louise Erdrich’s The Round House

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of spiritual hybridity in Louise Erdrich’s The Round House, examining how Indigenous spirituality and Christian influences intersect within the narrative to reflect cultural survival and resistance. Set against the backdrop of colonial violence and legal injustice, the novel portrays Native American characters navigating a complex spiritual landscape shaped by both ancestral beliefs and imposed religious systems. Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s theory of hybridity and Gerald Vizenor’s concept of survivance, the study analyzes how sacred spaces—particularly the round house itself—serve as sites of spiritual resilience and communal healing. Through Ojibwe cosmology, storytelling traditions, and ceremonial practices, Erdrich reclaims Indigenous identity and challenges the hegemony of Western religious structures. The paper argues that spiritual hybridity in The Round House is not a passive blending of faiths, but a dynamic form of resistance that affirms cultural continuity and reimagines sacred geography in a postcolonial context.