473 p., Demonstrates that the figure of the trickster is a key trope for the achievement of agency by the narrators of the three slave narratives Autobiografia de un esclavo, "Routes in North Africa by Abú Bekr es[dotbelow] s[dotbelow]iddik" [sic], and Biografia de un cimarrón. Also shows how both the realization of the trickster's role and the achievement of agency to which such a role is oriented are dependent on the use of the four Afro-Caribbean meta-tropes ndoki, nkisi, nganga, and simbi.
203 p., Examines the presence of slave vocality in Black Atlantic literature, placing the North American tradition of slave narrative against works from authors throughout the United States and the Caribbean. Challenges existing approaches to slave narrative by viewing the genre as one based on the fundamental impossibility of expressing black subjectivity under the political, ethical, and psychic conditions of slavery. The slave narrative thus ceases to represent an attempt by former slaves to access freedom and agency through writing, along with its promises of reason and autonomy, but rather signals (or sounds) a process of expression built not upon meaning, but upon signification. In other words, rather than crafting themselves into legible objects for the sake of narration and perception, slave narrators performed their roles as exchangeable units, both discursive and political, in ways that exposed the underlying lacunae of being a slave-narrator, a significative protocol that persists in contemporary black fiction throughout the Atlantic, even in areas in which the slave narrative did not historically emerge.
216 p., Explores the fashioning of Mary Seacole's public image as seen in Seacole's narrative, The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands, and the periodical press in the British mainland and the Jamaican colony. Contextualizes the precise historical moments Seacole details in her narrative as well as those moments during which Seacole achieves her greatest celebrity: the South American Republic of New Granada in the early 1850s; the Crimean War and its aftermath (1853-1860); Seacole's death (1881); the death of Seacole's sister Louisa Grant (1905); and Seacole's modern rise to fame in Jamaica and in the United Kingdom (c1990 to the present day). Through this contextualization the author argues that the fashioning of Seacole's public image reflects notions of race, nation, gender and colonial power throughout British history.
139 p., The research goal was to document differences in the epidemiology of prostate cancer among multicultural men [non-Hispanic White (NHW), Hispanic (H), non-Hispanic Black (NHB)], and Black subgroups, particularly among NHB subgroups [US-born (USB) and Caribbean-born (CBB)]. The study sample included men aged 18 and older, grouped by race/ethnicity. Among the CBB group, survey respondents were limited to the English-speaking Caribbean. Prostate cancer prevalence, by race showed a higher trend among NHB men than NHW men overall, however differences over time were not significant. CBB men reported a higher proportion of prostate cancer among cancers diagnosed than USB men overall. Among the CBB men, the number of years lived in the US did not significantly affect PSA screening behavior. When NHB men are stratified by birthplace, CBB men had a higher overall prevalence of prostate cancer diagnoses than USB men although not statistically significant. USB men were 2 to 3 times more likely to have had a PSA exam compared to CBB men, but among CBB men birthplace did not make a significant difference in screening behavior.
241 p., Examines the experiences of Panamanian Afro-Caribbean women and their membership in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) training and careers. The shortage of Science and Math teachers in 48 of 50 States heightens the need for those trained in STEM. Females of African phenotype have persistently been underrepresented in STEM. However, this trend does not appear to have held for Panamanian Afro-Caribbean women. The current study explores issues related to STEM participation for these women by addressing the overarching question: What key factors from the lived experiences of Panamanian Afro-Caribbean women in STEM careers can be used to inform work with females of African phenotype in their pursuit of STEM education and STEM careers?
367 p., Examines the lasting consequences of the anticolonial, antislavery discourses of the Haitian Revolution on the way in which postcolonial Haitians understood the narrative structure of their national history from Independence (1804) to the end of the American Occupation of Haiti (1934). In this study Haitian intuitions of historical time are apprehended through an analysis of nineteenth and early twentieth century Haitian literary and historical works. These texts are scrutinized with respect to (a) formal narrative features such as truncation, ellipsis, elision, prolepsis and analepsis which reveal an implicit understanding of the disposition of the metahistorical categories of "past," "present," and "future" and (b) the analysis of the explicit reflections on history provided by narrators or authors. This dissertation argues, primarily, that the event of the "Haitian Revolution" (1791-1804) was fundamental to Haitian understandings of the emplotment of the whole of Haitian history.
107 p., The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-Third Edition (MCMI-III) currently ranks among the most commonly utilized personality tools. Most of the studies that examined racial/ethnic differences on the MCMI were conducted using the MCMI-I and MCMI-II. While many MCMI studies have explored racial differences, few studies have examined the impact of cultural factors on MCMI-III performance. In the current study, the performance of African Americans (n = 52) and Caribbean Blacks (n = 77) were compared on the Antisocial, Narcissistic, Paranoid, and Delusional Disorder scales of the MCMI-III.
250 p., This dissertation has focused on the intertextual relationship between Tituba in I, Tituba...Black Witch of Salem and Veronica in Waiting for Happiness by Maryse Condé, primarily around different figures of otherness such as birth, race, sexuality, and space in which Tituba and Veronica are victims, according to their respective reference groups. Tituba is a child born out of wedlock because Abena, her mother, was raped by an English sailor on the Atlantic coast. This would rightfully translate into the hatred her mother has for her. Veronica was born into a family of two girls when her parents were in fact expecting a boy. Race and space are also lacking elements with the protagonists. This would explain their spatial instability depending on the course of the novels. Enslaved in different families, Tituba was imprisoned for witchcraft in Salem and was later hanged in her native Barbados due to lack of real space. Veronica on the other hand sought asylum in France where she returns after her disappointment of wanting ancestral roots in Africa.
107 p., Stephanie St Clair was born in 1897 on the island of Guadeloupe. In 1923 she created and ran a highly-lucrative policy bank in Harlem. By 1926, the operation earned a quarter of a million dollars To this day, she remains the only black female gangster to run a numbers bank of that size St Clair also contributed generously to the community and advocated for racial uplift. This thesis explores some of the factors that influenced her decision to become an entrepreneur who would create and run her own enterprise; and, paradoxically, become an activist within her community. Also implicit, and therefore a component of the inquiry, was St. Clair's decision to describe herself as a lady when the definition would not have applied to her in that era.
