A Bridge Between Object-Oriented Ontology and Indigenous Time: Flat Temporalities in Layli Long Soldier’s Whereas

Document Type : Original Research Article

Author

Department of English and Creative Writing, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, United States of America

Abstract

Indigenous lives and histories have long been overlooked through historicization and primitivization. However, Long Soldier’s approach in Whereas challenges the settler colonial perceptions of indigenous time, meaning the authoritative urge to leave indigeneity in only one mode of time, the past. In this article, I will demonstrate how Long Soldier’s Whereas can be read as a disruption of the settler colonial hierarchy in modes of time through Graham Harman’s object oriented ontology (OOO) and flat ontology. Through engaging with indigenous scholars such as Patty Krawec, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, and Mark Rifkin, I will propose flat temporalities as a model for indigenous time where no one mode of time is superior to the other and is singularly representative of the indigenous time. Long Soldier shows how the violent past, present struggles, and dreams of the future inform one another simultaneously through flourishing relations and kinship, bridging worlds of different times. To reach the objective of this article, I will begin by reviewing the work of Patty Krawec, Mark Rifkin, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson to prioritize the indigenous perspective of time. Then, I will engage with Graham Harman as the aspiring backbone of the methodology of this paper, expanded through indigenous thought as to lead to flat temporalities. Finally, I will explain how through precise and delicate language, Whereas brings nuance to our understanding of indigenous poetry, questions the linear and hierarchical settler colonial perception, and envisions a new model of thinking about time. 

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References

Harman, Graham. 2018. Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything. London:
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Long Soldier, Layli. 2019. Whereas. London: Graywolf Press.
Miranda, Deborah A. 2013. Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir. Berkeley: Heyday.
Rifkin, Mark. 2017. Beyond Settler Time: Temporal Sovereignty and Indigenous
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Critical Language and Literary Studies
Volume 23, Issue 36 - Serial Number 13
English
April 2026
Pages 1-11

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