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Reading, Writing, and Language: The Neo-Slave Novel and the Changing Definition of Literacy
Title
Reading, Writing, and Language: The Neo-Slave Novel and the Changing Definition of Literacy.
Creator
Segal, Pamela H., Dagbovie-Mullins, Sika A., Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description
After examining the neo-slave genre it becomes evident that the definition of the genre provided by AshrafRushdy is incomplete, because it does not include an important component of the narrative, literacy. By adding to Rushdy's definition, the narrative's dimensions change and the discussion of the genre is given a new perspective. Many neo-slave narratives' discussions of literacy correspond to the time of publication, not the time period or setting of the novels. Therefore, by interpreting...
Show moreAfter examining the neo-slave genre it becomes evident that the definition of the genre provided by AshrafRushdy is incomplete, because it does not include an important component of the narrative, literacy. By adding to Rushdy's definition, the narrative's dimensions change and the discussion of the genre is given a new perspective. Many neo-slave narratives' discussions of literacy correspond to the time of publication, not the time period or setting of the novels. Therefore, by interpreting the development of literacy alongside the neo-slave narrative, one is able to consider the significance of this connection. By examining three novels within the neo-slave genre, Ishmael Reed's Flight to Canada (1976), Shirley Ann Williams's Dessa Rose (1986) and Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987), I contend that Ashraf Rushdy' s definition of the narrative appears too limited. The cultural perspective and use of literacy within the neo-slave novel allows for further examination of this important component.
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Date Issued
2008
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000961
Subject Headings
Slavery in literature, Influence (Literary, artistic, etc), American prose literature--African American authors--Criticism and interpretation, Reed, Ishmael,--1938---Flight to Canada--Criticism and interpretation, Williams, Shirley Ann--Dessa Rose--Criticism and interpretation, Morrison, Toni--Beloved--Criticism and interpretation
Format
Document (PDF)
Fallen from disgrace: tales of disillusion in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman and v.s. Naipaul’s Guerrillas
Title
Fallen from disgrace: tales of disillusion in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman and v.s. Naipaul’s Guerrillas.
Creator
Osborne, Tamar C., Dagbovie-Mullins, Sika A., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
Despite radical differences in their political commentary, Amiri Baraka and V.S. Naipaul’s literary careers have obsessively centered on the divided Self of the colonized artist. Esther Jackson argues that Baraka’s “search for form” becomes “symbolic of a continuing effort to mediate between warring factions within the perceiving mind” (38). Similarly, many critics have interpreted Naipaul’s grave manifestos as the outpourings of a writer disenchanted with his own past and national identity....
Show moreDespite radical differences in their political commentary, Amiri Baraka and V.S. Naipaul’s literary careers have obsessively centered on the divided Self of the colonized artist. Esther Jackson argues that Baraka’s “search for form” becomes “symbolic of a continuing effort to mediate between warring factions within the perceiving mind” (38). Similarly, many critics have interpreted Naipaul’s grave manifestos as the outpourings of a writer disenchanted with his own past and national identity. For Selwyn Cudjoe, Naipaul’s work is “reflective of a man who failed to discover any psychological balance in his life” (172-173). This thesis analyzes how Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman and V.S. Naipaul’s Guerrillas engage with various fairy tale conventions in order to narrate the colonized victim’s divided Self. These narratives ultimately function as anti-fairy tales, revealing the black protagonist’s accursed position in the symbolic order.
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Date Issued
2014
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004312, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004312
Subject Headings
Baraka, Amiri -- 1934-2014 -- Dutchman -- Criticism and interpretation, Consciousness in literature, Naipaul, Vidiadhar Surajprasad -- 1932- -- Guerrillas -- Criticism and interpretation, Race in literature, Race relations in literature, Women, White in literature
Format
Document (PDF)
The mixed-race girl’s guide to the art of passing: racial simulations in Danzy Senna’s Caucasia and Nella Larsen’s Quicksand
Title
The mixed-race girl’s guide to the art of passing: racial simulations in Danzy Senna’s Caucasia and Nella Larsen’s Quicksand.
Creator
Byng, Gyasi S., Dagbovie-Mullins, Sika A., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
Racial identifications are continually influenced by and constructed through one’s environment. Building on Jean Baudrillard’s “The Precession of Simulacra” and Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space, this thesis argues that houses and clothing are the material objects that allow characters Birdie Lee from Danzy Senna’s Caucasia and Helga Crane from Nella Larsen’s Quicksand to construct their mixed race identities. Birdie Lee’s childhood home is the place where she develops a mixed race...
Show moreRacial identifications are continually influenced by and constructed through one’s environment. Building on Jean Baudrillard’s “The Precession of Simulacra” and Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space, this thesis argues that houses and clothing are the material objects that allow characters Birdie Lee from Danzy Senna’s Caucasia and Helga Crane from Nella Larsen’s Quicksand to construct their mixed race identities. Birdie Lee’s childhood home is the place where she develops a mixed race identity. When she leaves that home, she is forced to take on simulacra in order to pass for white. Without a stable childhood or adult home, Helga Crane’s wardrobe becomes the space where she unconsciously develops a mixed race identity. Her clothing choices allow her to simulate an entirely black identity that masks her mixed race heritage. Ultimately, the fates of Birdie and Helga are determined by whether or not they can occupy a space that is accepting of their mixed race identities.
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Date Issued
2014
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004086, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004086
Subject Headings
Larsen, Nella -- Quicksand -- Criticism and interpretation, Passing (Identity) in literature, Racially mixed people -- Race identity, Senna, Danzy -- Caucasia -- Criticism and interpretation
Format
Document (PDF)
Survival by Any Means: Race and Gender, Passing and Performance in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents
Title
Survival by Any Means: Race and Gender, Passing and Performance in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.
Creator
Moreno, Micah R., Dagbovie-Mullins, Sika A., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
This project focuses on race and gender in the works of author Octavia Butler. The primary texts analyzed are Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. In these novels, Butler alludes to slavery in antebellum America by drawing strong parallels between the roles race and gender played in the survival of the escaped slaves of America’s past and the role they play in the survival of the main character of Butler’s apocalyptic future. The themes of race and gender frequently intersect and...
Show moreThis project focuses on race and gender in the works of author Octavia Butler. The primary texts analyzed are Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. In these novels, Butler alludes to slavery in antebellum America by drawing strong parallels between the roles race and gender played in the survival of the escaped slaves of America’s past and the role they play in the survival of the main character of Butler’s apocalyptic future. The themes of race and gender frequently intersect and maintain an important role throughout the novels. I argue that, by reading Butler’s novels within this significant historical context, Butler’s use of passing as a tool for subverting both racial and gendered identity as a means to secure the safety and privilege necessary for survival emerges. Further, the parallels between racial and gender passing serve to expose the performative nature of these identifying characteristics.
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Date Issued
2017
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004996
Subject Headings
Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Butler, Octavia E. 1947-2006, Butler, Octavia E.--Criticism and interpretation.
Format
Document (PDF)
RADICAL RETICENCE: QUIETNESS, VISION, AND RESISTANCE IN CONTEMPORARY REPRESENTATIONS OF SLAVERY
Title
RADICAL RETICENCE: QUIETNESS, VISION, AND RESISTANCE IN CONTEMPORARY REPRESENTATIONS OF SLAVERY.
Creator
McGeary, Stephen A., Dagbovie-Mullins, Sika, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
Throughout the 21st century, some artists, athletes, and politicians began to use their platforms to speak out against the issues of systemic racism and police brutality that continue to affect black Americans to this day. While this outpouring of support for the black community has helped move the needle in terms of equity and inclusion initiatives, critics have often labeled these figures and movements too public or loud, conflating the concepts of talking and loudness with resistance to...
Show moreThroughout the 21st century, some artists, athletes, and politicians began to use their platforms to speak out against the issues of systemic racism and police brutality that continue to affect black Americans to this day. While this outpouring of support for the black community has helped move the needle in terms of equity and inclusion initiatives, critics have often labeled these figures and movements too public or loud, conflating the concepts of talking and loudness with resistance to the status quo. Yet, in an era when “silence is not an option” and “quietness is complicity,” African American authors and artists have taken a subtle and quiet approach to depicting the lives of enslaved men and women. More specifically, novels, films, and art from the past two decades portray resistance as not only a public and physical phenomenon, but a mental and ideological one. This dissertation project comes at the intersection of African American literary, religious, and historical studies to argue that quiet and internal acts, such as surrender, memory, and visions, throughout contemporary representations of slavery provide an effective form of resistance to white hegemonic authority, ideology, and values. It asks readers to look beyond the public and the loud, to think about resistance that is not merely physical, to consider the possibilities present in reticence.
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Date Issued
2022
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013935
Subject Headings
African-American studies, Slave narratives, American literature--African American authors
Format
Document (PDF)