Excavating the Cultural and Racial Encounters in George Ryga's Indian

The term drama refers to a literary genre consisting of texts written for both readings as well as staging in the theatre. The Canadian drama consisting of a range of forms is shaped by the Canadian colonial experience, various social, cultural and political forces, the rise of nationalism etc., which are generally taken to affect the arts and literature. The 19th century saw the emergence of closet drama in Canadian literature. At the end of this century, the poetic dramatists started using indigenous subjects. After WWI, Canadian one-act plays gained prominence as the predominant form of the time. In the 1960s and 1970s, the playwrights like John Coulter, James Reaney, George Ryga, Beverley Simons, influence the Canadian play writings greatly. In the early 1960s, George Ryga became a public figure with his first play ‘Indian'. The present research aims to unveil the cultural differences the characters encounter, several racial encounters which result in racial despair and racial discrimination in the lives of the native Indians of the play Indian. This study also analyses the themes of segregation and alienation of the working-class native Indians, the problem of belonging the characters face in Indian. Besides, this paper will highlight the aspects of subjugation of the ethnic minorities, the plight of the Indians, various modes of resistances the oppressed class laborers raise in the play Indian.