Beyond the Frontier — BIPOC Women Writing the Western

 

Beyond the Frontier — BIPOC Women Writing the Western



The Western genre has historically portrayed a narrow and often inaccurate view of the American frontier—one dominated by white male cowboys, settlers, and sheriffs. However, this landscape was and is far more diverse. BIPOC women writers have increasingly entered the Western arena to tell stories of resistance, resilience, and reclamation. They are not just adding diversity to the genre—they are transforming it from the inside out.

1. Reclaiming the Narrative: Why BIPOC Women Matter in the Western Genre

The myth of the West often erases the presence of Indigenous people, Black cowboys, Mexican ranchers, Chinese laborers, and other racially marginalized communities. BIPOC women writers challenge this exclusion by:

- Restoring historical accuracy through the inclusion of BIPOC experiences
- Centering the voices of women traditionally silenced or stereotyped
- Reimagining frontier spaces as sites of community, resistance, and survival
- Critiquing the genre’s colonial, patriarchal roots

2. Pioneers and Contemporary Voices

Paulette Jiles (Black & Indigenous heritage)
Author of News of the World (2016), Jiles presents post-Civil War Texas through the eyes of a white veteran and a Kiowa-raised girl. Though not always marketed as a BIPOC Western, her nuanced portrayals and mixed heritage influence her depiction of Indigenous and cross-cultural experiences.

Debra Magpie Earling (Bitterroot Salish)
Her novel Perma Red (2002) follows Louise White Elk, a fiercely independent Native American woman navigating reservation life in the 1940s. While not a traditional Western, Perma Red features many Western themes: independence, lawlessness, and identity struggles in contested land.

Ana Castillo (Chicana)
A major figure in Chicana literature, Castillo’s So Far from God and other works depict borderlands life where Western tropes—horses, ranching, desert justice—are recontextualized with spiritual, feminist, and queer-inflected narratives.

Nana Nkweti (Cameroonian-American)
Though not strictly a Western writer, her short stories in Walking on Cowry Shells blend African and American cultures with regional Americana—including Southern Gothic and Western tones—providing fresh, diasporic perspectives on frontier and freedom.

3. Common Themes in BIPOC Women’s Western Writing

Colonial trauma and land sovereignty: Many Indigenous and Chicana writers use the Western form to explore dispossession and cultural survival.

Race and labor: Black women’s Westerns frequently reveal the hidden roles of Black cowgirls, ranchers, and homesteaders in building the American West.

Hybrid identities: BIPOC women often write characters who live at the crossroads—racially, culturally, or linguistically—mirroring their own experiences navigating marginalization.

Spiritual landscapes: The frontier is not just physical, but metaphysical—offering spaces for ancestral connection, feminist resistance, and healing.

4. Intersectionality on the Range: LGBTQ+ BIPOC Women Writers

Some writers expand the genre by layering in queerness and gender nonconformity, further queering the frontier:

Joshua Whitehead (Two-Spirit, Cree), while not a woman, has inspired many queer Indigenous writers to view the frontier through gender-expansive lenses.

Toni Jensen (Métis) explores gun violence and Indigenous erasure in modern settings, connecting past frontier myths to current-day realities.

Cherie Dimaline (Métis) blends dystopian and frontier narratives in The Marrow Thieves, highlighting resistance to exploitation and colonization.

5. Borderlands and Cross-Cultural Westerns

Chicana, Afro-Latina, and Asian American women writers have turned to the Western genre to explore the U.S.-Mexico border as both a physical and metaphorical space. Their works often emphasize:

- Movement and migration
- Language as survival
- Cross-cultural solidarity
- Gendered violence and justice

Sandra Cisneros: Her lyric storytelling maps out girlhood and womanhood in border zones full of cultural tension.

Reyna Grande: Her memoirs and novels, while not traditional Westerns, offer Western-adjacent tales of land, border crossings, and self-determination.

6. The Black Western Woman: Still Rare, But Emerging

Despite the historical presence of Black cowgirls and homesteaders, very few mainstream Westerns have been written by Black women. This absence points to ongoing publishing barriers and a lack of institutional support.

That said, newer voices are emerging in film, indie lit, and speculative fiction:
Brianna Noble, an equestrian and activist, inspires fictional works and public interest in Black women on horseback.

Jasmine Guillory, while known for romance, and N.K. Jemisin, though writing sci-fi/fantasy, open pathways for genre-blending Black Westerns to emerge.

7. Opportunities and Challenges

Opportunities
- Growing interest in diverse historical fiction and alternative Westerns
- Rise of indie and self-publishing platforms
- Increased scholarly interest in “decolonizing” literature

Challenges
- Genre bias: Many still view Westerns as the domain of white men
- Marketing barriers: Publishers often don’t know how to position BIPOC Westerns
- Under-documentation: Many BIPOC women’s stories in Western history remain untold or unrecognized
.

Reclaiming the Range

BIPOC women writers are not just guests in the Western genre—they are reclaiming it. Through stories of struggle, survival, and self-definition, they reveal the complexity of the frontier and those who lived—and still live—within it.

Their work offers new mythologies rooted in truth, justice, and the radical act of belonging.

Recommended Reading


| Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling. Main Character is an Indigenous female protagonist from the Montana reservation.
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News of the World by Paulette Jiles. Cross-cultural Western, girl raised by Kiowa.
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So Far from God |by Ana Castillo. A Magical realist Western-borderland fusion.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Urban borderlands spirit, poetic voice.

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. Contains Dystopian Western elements with Indigenous resistance.