239961 Gender Aspects in Caribbean Literature (S) (SoSe 2013)

In this course, we will enter the multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-lingual culture of the Caribbean. Because of its geographical and linguistic diversity and the colonial and post-colonial past that mark the history of all the Caribbean islands and archipelagoes, the accompanying literature is equally as diverse. It includes fiction, poetry, drama, autobiography on the one hand and social and political history on the other, generally organized into the following periods: indigenous (pre-colonial), colonial, emancipation, decolonization, and globalization. The Caribbean is part of the African Diaspora, and it shares with other diaspora cultures the legacy of slavery and the resulting ideologies associated with race, class, color and gender. Located between North and South America, its close proximity to Latin America and historical links to Spain have resulted in an infusion of various literary styles, including magical realism, a distinctive form of Latin American modernism. We will read representative works in English, primarily (but not exclusively) published since the latter part of the 20th century, which help frame our current conception of the Caribbean cultural identity. Our examination will focus on themes in the literature itself that often treat conflicting discourses, such nativism and immigrant mobility; race, ethnicity, nationalism; marginality, dislocation and rootedness; cultural conflicts and cultural bridging; history, myth, and memory; and concepts of manhood and womanhood. The politics of place are important to our understanding of Caribbean literature since the ability to leave and return home has a significant impact upon the lives of the characters and the formation of their identities. We will pay particular attention to the relationships between and among the islands so as to make the appropriate distinctions in British, French and US colonial practices and the experiences of subsequent generations. Since many of the texts rely on remembered and lived experiences of several generations, heavily plotted narratives, shifts from one cultural setting to another and intertwining histories are common just as we see the use of the autobiographical voice.

Texts and Guiding Questions:

George Lamming, In the Castle of My Skin (Barbados)
How does Lamming revise his coming of age novel for the British Caribbean?

Paule Marshall, Reena and Other Stories (Barbados-Brooklyn)
How is Bajan culture preserved, adapted and or transformed within the immigrant community of NY?

Michele Cliff , No Telephone to Heaven (Jaimaica)
How does Cliff examine race, motherhood and color in this novel?

Jamaica Kincaid, Annie John (Antigua)
What parallels do you see between the internal conflicts in this novel and the setting?

Derek Wolcott, Omeros (St. Lucia)
How does Omeros depart from the traditional form of the epic? Why did he do this?

Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent (Dominican Republic)
How does this book (a) demonstrate the power and importance of storytelling and (b) distinguish between native and immigrant experiences?

Marie Chauvet, Love, Anger Madness (Haiti)
Why does Chauvet characterize her experience in Haiti as “love” and “anger” “madness”? Is she using these terms ironically or symbolically?

Caryl Phillips, Crossing the River (St. Kitts)
How does Phillips utilize history and memory to inform the structure and content of this novel?