Analyses the feminist content of Afra-Hispanic literature written by Black Spanish-speaking women of the Caribbean and the Central and South America. Reconstruction of discursive tradition of Afra-Hispanic literature through archaeology; Presence of literate Afra-Hispanic writers during the slavery era; Prominence of Afra-Hispanic writers Nancy Morejon and Aida Cartagena Portalatin.
Caribbean women writers such as Erna Brodber and Opal Palmer Adisa often include men in women's liberatory quests as participants. The close connection between sexuality and emotions in this body of writing can be read through a new model of affective feminist reader theory. Women's sexual healing processes in the novels discussed in this article are not solely gynocentric in the Caribbean context: men are often active participants in these processes, and thus also in gender reconfigurations.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
226 p., Argues that a repeated engagement with the Caribbean’s iconic and historic touchstones offers a new sense of (inter)national belonging that brings an alternative and dynamic vision to the gendered legacy of brutality against black bodies, flesh, and bone. Using a distinctive methodology she calls "feminist rehearsal" to chart the Caribbean’s multiple and contradictory accounts of historical events, the author highlights the gendered and emergent connections between art, history, and belonging.
Reviews the book "Women's Activism in Latin America and the Caribbean: Engendering Social Justice, Democratizing Citizenship," edited by Elizabeth Maier and Nathalie Lebon.
Offers close readings of three texts that foreground the problems, possibilities and struggle involved in forging affective connections across difference between women: Kate Clanchy,What is She Doing Here?, 2008, Jamaica Kincaid,Lucy, 1991a and Marlene Van Niekerk, ‘Labour’, 2004. Argues that the incomplete and partial nature of affective moments represented in these texts signals possibilities for a cautiously redefined idea of affective feminist solidarity as it is mobilized in the intimacy of domestic spaces.
Authors conducted a thematic analysis of 650 photographs of Haitian women in the Associated Press Photo Archive in the years 1994–2009. Emphasizes the impact of these images on the identity of Haitian women and Women of Color, as well as on the attitudes and behaviors of media consumers toward these groups.
Examines the role of abolitionist and feminist ideals in Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda's novel Sab. Highlights the power and gender relations in Sab, suggesting that previous interpretations of the novel have not addressed the role of these relations as a function of race relations in the slave colony of Cuba. Discusses the themes of interracial relationships and personal identity.;
