Abstract
This article examines the specifically gendered ways in which Zee Edgell (re)writes Belizean history to challenge patriarchy and imperialism in her novels. Contextualizing this study with socio‐historical research on Belize as well as personal interviews with Zee Edgell, it argues that Edgell challenges a postcolonial body politic, which replicates patriarchal colonial policies that marginalize and oppress Belizeans of all ethnicities. Edgell's novels expose the muted history of slavery and colonization in Belize, and they re‐imagine how this shaped the development of the colony and independent nation. In addition, her depictions of the decolonization movement document the muted history of women's activism in Belize. Thus, her novels challenge nationalist historiography and identify Belizean women's instrumental role in the nation‐building process in colonial and postcolonial Belize. Her depictions of women's community activism redefine hierarchical power politics, provide a paradigm for activist struggles against oppressions, and suggest a course for attaining sovereignty in postcolonial Belize.
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