"In this essay I discuss the thwarted cultural translation of modernity across the Atlantic and how this process affected the cultural self-understanding of the Caribbean. I will frame my argument by referring to the Hegelian theme of the Subject insofar as this particular concept condenses and articulates the ideology of modernity as a Eurocentric drive for world domination." (author)
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
223 p, Ileana Rodriguez's House/Garden/Nation: Space, Gender, and Ethnicity in Post-Colonial Latin American Literatures by Women offers an insightful look into the role the feminine has played in the constructions of nation and nationalism in critical moments of Latin American history. Although feminism is at the center of the study, it is always predicated by concerns of ethnicity and social class. (BNET);
"This essay makes what may seem an obvious case: that authentic Black British God-talk needs to urgently engage with the diverse religious landscape of which it is a part. In the process, the essay seeks briefly to scrutinize past and present Black British theological discourse, explore the overtures with regard to engagement with multi-faith and interfaith issues and offer some tentative observations and practical suggestions on the way forward." (author)
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
192 p., Argues that postcolonial critics must move beyond an identity-based orthodoxy as they examine problems of sovereignty. Harrison describes what she calls "difficult subjects”--subjects that disrupt essentialized notions of identity as equivalent to sovereignty. She argues that these subjects function as a call for postcolonial critics to broaden their critical horizons beyond the usual questions of national identity and exclusion/inclusion.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
135 p., "Colonie britannique depuis 1655, la Jamaïque obtient son indépendance en 1962. Destination d'un voyage sans retour pour près d'un million d'Africains déportés, l'île est rongée par les cicatrices mémorielles de l'esclavage. Dominée par les Créoles, paupérisée et confrontée à une offre politique nationale inadaptée, la population africaine souffre de l'absence d'une identité noire revendiquée et institutionnalisée. De ce déni de reconnaissance officielle jailliront des mouvements alternatifs, dont la célèbre communauté rastafarienne. Incitant à réfléchir sur les mécanismes d'émergence des groupes identitaires, ce travail met en lumière l'importance de l'histoire et des problématiques de la mémoire dans le processus de construction des identités sociales et souligne le rôle central de la culture dans les luttes de pouvoir"--P. [4] of cover.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
235 p., Using contemporary literary representations of place, this study focuses on works that have participated in the emergence of new conceptions of place and new place-based identities. The analyses draw on research in cultural geography, cognitive science, urban sociology, and globalization studies. Includes chapter on "Evolution in/of the Caribbean Landscape Narrative."
227 p., Considers the often-silenced, tangible traces that the Haitian Revolution and radical anti-slavery have left in the greater Caribbean as they emerge in contemporary cultural productions. The author looks at national trends in the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica in order to formulate an understanding of the uses of gendered images of slavery and blackness in modern nation-building campaigns. Critically assesses what is left out of these narratives and how these gaps serve specific purposes. Argues for the centrality of the Caribbean in any true understanding of the history of modernity and the contemporary nation-state by investigating the after-shocks of the Haitian Revolution and of radical anti-slavery.
