What has been termed as a post-Negritude era has seen many Caribbean writers trying to forge an autonomous identity that would adequately articulate the multifaceted nature of the Caribbean subject This study will attempt to show that Maryse Conde is interested in expanding and (re)-negotiating the parameters used to define Caribbean identity formation. Conde intentionally blurs the lines that have helped maintain traditional tropes and oppositions that limit acceptable definitions of Caribbean identity. Her work resists closure and draws on the amalgam of cultures that makes the Caribbean propitious to multiple identity formation In the first chapter, I will show how Conde's attempts to relocate the matrix of Caribbean identity from Africa to the Antilles highlight the cultural conflicts at work within Caribbean societies. The second chapter revolves around the specificity of gender in assessing identity and reflects the complex role of women in determining social structure. The third chapter will show that, even though Conde is concerned with the question of race as a polemic debate, she seldom problematizes it as an orthodox black/white dichotomy. Her criticism suggests that race is a cultural construct and underscores the need for dealing with individual personalities rather than physical traits. The fourth chapter looks at the dynamic process of creolization and the quest for authenticity through language and stylistic expression Paradoxically, even as Conde repositions the Caribbean identity as a product of multiple cultural intersections, her representation of cultural plurality leads inexorably back to the Antilles as the primary source of inspiration, drawing from it, claiming it, and above all, accepting it as one's own / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_25940 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Contributors | Lartey, Belinda Nerissa (Author), Watts, Richard (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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