Image of the Caribbean Jan van de Straet’s engraving “America”--the new world as a woman

On Diaspora “…diasporic cultural forms can never, in practice, be exclusively nationalist. They are deployed in transnational networks built from multiple attachments, and they encode practices of accommodation with, as well as resistance to, host countries and their norms.” --James Clifford

Diasporic Cultures in the Caribbean “The Caribbean is a region in which the aboriginal communities [Amerindians-- Arawaks, Caribs, etc.] were virtually exterminated, and replaced by peoples from Africa, Asia and Europe.” --Louis James names: West Indies (Anglophone) / the Antilles (Francophone) / the Caribbean

Caribbean Literature--Chronology Columbus’s “discovery” of the West Indies 1808 Britain and USA abolished slave trade 1838 complete abolition of slavery in British colonies 1845 East Indian indentured laborers in Trinidad; Chinese indenture in French colonies 1950 “colonization in reverse”: West Indian migration to England

“Colonization in Reverse” What a joyful news, Miss Mattie; Ah feel like me heart gwine burs-- Jamaica people colonizin Englan in reverse By de hundred, by de tousan From country an from town, By de ship-load, by the plane-load, Jamaica is Englan boun.

Dem a pout out a Jamaica; Everybody future plan Is fi get a big-time job An settle in de motherlan What a islan! What a people! Man an woman, ole and young Jussa pack dem bag an baggage An tun history upside dung! --Louis Bennett

Trickster Tradition Anancy stories (spider)—from West Africa—the experience of the Middle Passage in animal forms (42) The “Monkey Business”—the monkey as a gentleman-like animal—a symbol of the (pseudo-)colonizer—undressing unmasking the (pseudo-)colonizer Functions of a trickster—for survival and revenge

Caribbean Literature--Chronology The Federation of the West Indies 1962 independence for Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago; restrictions imposed on West Indian immigration to Britain 1966 independence for Barbados and Guyana

Caribbean Literature--Overview 1 Edward Kamau Brathwaite--“Little Tradition” (the culture of ordinary people) vs “Great Tradition”--the writer functions in, from, for his own society (cultural nationalism) V.S. Naipaul —voluntary exile— writer’s “self-cultivation” to get out of West Indies, a “destitute,” sterile void

Caribbean Literature--Overview 2 “New Day”--London West Indies importance of West Indian poetry since Independence--openness to pop culture and esp. to music (reggae and calypso); appeal of public performance; acceptance of social responsibility --poetry has a “function” (poetry vs fiction as a middle-class genre) amateur poetic practice in the WI

Caribbean Women’s Writings—Major Themes female Bildungsroman: stories of growth and development--national allegory: the personal as the political racial and class issues and the process of socialization “Mother Country” vs mother land the process of education and mother-daughter relationship--usually alienation the grandmother as the positive figure

Major Themes 2 female sexualities stereotyping male-female relationship--the abuse and objectification of women in the Caribbean society importance of human resources, especially sisterhood the close connection of women and nature (the land)

Working Miracles: Women’s Lives Single mothers as breadwinners (1/2 of the Caribbean households are headed by women The Dancehall Queen )—absent father (mother)— child-shifting (adoptions –“Bright Thursdays” adopting to fill in an empty space for the grandparents 210) Outside children—children born out of a father’s stable residential union—but legitimacy is not an issue Olive Senior, Working Miracles: Women’s Lives in the English-Speaking Caribbean (Chapter 1)

“Bright Thursdays”--Genealogy Dolphie Watson Miss Christie Mina Bertram Myrtle Johnstone (white) (brown) (dark) Laura 2 sons (2 fathers) (Bertram’s Mistake; Bertram’s stray shot) A child’s perspective—a gradual process of alienation and othering—Laura’s burdens in life (194, 210, 206)

Color System in the Caribbean Society “Dying to raise their color all of them” (199) The color triangle: white brown dark

Narrative Techniques—Space Spatial imagery—to carry out the sense of displacement—transported from mother’s house to father’s—out of place or no space (photos on the bureau195)——fear of open space, empty space (the dinning table 196; father’s house )—enclosures (hemmed in 203, blue bowl 204)—desire for a protective space (mother’s house 203) or safe space (digging potatoes 207) What are the meanings of the mirror in the story?

Narrative Techniques—Contrasts Inside/outside (203)—sense of insecurity—searching for a safe space Meal: mother’s house—natural grandmother’s—ritual (the Table, Table Manners, the Meal ) Can you think of other examples of contrasts in the story?

“Bright Thursday”—Title and Ending What is the meaning of the title? dreaming about being rescued by her father; will bring nothing but bright Thursdays (208) A fairy tale created by her mother—Myrtle causes her displacement, “a life of solitude,” and silence (205) A story of disillusionment—the breaking up of her hope and dreams—“bloody bastard” (211) What do you think about the ending?