The Making of Afro-Caribbean Consciousness and Identity in the Poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson, David Dabydeen, and Fred D’Aguiar

Dilek Bulut Sarıkaya

Description

In the context of a diversified and pluralistic arena of contemporary literature embodying previously marginalized voices of region, ethnicity, gender, and class, black poets living in Britain developed a distinct branch of contemporary poetry. Having emerged from a struggle to give voice to marginalized groups in Britain, the poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson, David Dabydeen, and Fred D’Aguiar helped define national identity and explored racial oppression. Motivated by a sense of responsibility towards their communities, these poets undertook the task of transmitting black history to young blacks who risked losing ties to their roots. They also emphasized the necessity of fighting racism by constructing an awareness of Afro-Caribbean national identity while establishing black cultural heritage in contemporary British poetry. In this book, Turkish literary scholar Dilek Bulut Sarıkaya examines their works. Linton Kwesi Johnson’s Voices of the Living and the Dead (1974), Inglan is a Bitch (1980), and Tings an Times (1991) open the study, followed by David Dabydeen’s Slave Song (1984), Coolie Odyssey (1988), and Turner (1994) and, finally, Fred D’Aguiar’s Mama Dot (1985), Airy Hall (1989) and British Subjects (1993).

Sujets

• Caribbean Studies
• African Studies
• Literary Criticism
• Social Science
• African
• Literature
• African people
• Social sciences
• Poetry
• David Dabydeen
• Linton Kwesi Johnson

Informations

• Publié par: Academica Press
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781680536997
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Making of Afro-Caribbean Consciousness and Identity in the Poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson, David Dabydeen, and Fred D Aguiar
Dilek Bulut Sarikaya
Academica Press
Washington ~ London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sarikaya, Dilek Bulut, author.
Title: The making of afro-caribbean consciousness and identity in the poetry of linton kwesi johnson, david dabydeen, and fred d aguiar Dilek Bulut Sarikaya
Description: Washington : Academica Press, 2023. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2023933327 ISBN 9781680536980 (hardcover) ISBN 9781680536997 (ebook)
Copyright 2023 Dilek Bulut Sarikaya
To my beloved children Berra and Yusuf
Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter I Manifestation of Racism in the Poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson, David Dabydeen and Fred D Aguiar Chapter II Fighting Racism and the Construction of Afro-Caribbean Cultural Identity in the Poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson, David Dabydeen and Fred D Aguiar Conclusion Glossary End Notes Works Cited
Acknowledgments
I feel indebted to my parents Mehmet and Elif Bulut, who loved and supported me all my life.
I should express my warmest thanks to my husband Usame Cem Sarikaya who appreciated my commitment to the academic career and helped me overcome my difficulties by supporting and comforting me.
Introduction
In the opening lines of Hulse et. al. s Introduction to The New Poetry , it is asserted that every age gets the literature it deserves (15), which is an accurate statement for contemporary British poetry. British poetry, from the 1960s onwards, finds itself in a constant process of revolutionary changes, culminating in the evolution of multi-dimensional variations of poetry expanding its scope. Since it is possible for literature to reflect the cultural and political circumstances that shape and produce it, it is not difficult to observe the transformation of English poetry into what is called British poetries, as contemporary British society is transformed from a homogenized society into a multicultural society (Kennedy 215). Regardless of the Movement poetry in the 1950s which strived to preserve the homogenization and insularity of English poetry represented by the poets like Philip Larkin and Donald Davie (Tuma 7), contemporary British poetry in the 1970s and the 1980s, seeking out new models and positions, discovered a new pluralism (Hulse et.al. 25).
The influence of postmodernism in contemporary British poetry, during the last quarter of the twentieth century, can be observed in a blurring of distinctions between different genres, and in this way contemporary British poetry gains a political sub-text (Kennedy 252). It is also with the influence of postmodernism that, what is pushed into the periphery as the marginal is put into the very center of concern. As a result, the poets who have been so far considered as marginal, become the constituents of the mainstream British poetry among which are gay, lesbian and homosexual poetry as well as black poetry. In terms of the use of poetic techniques, the traditional poetic diction is put aside with the influence of postmodernism and it is observed that the scientific discourse is also incorporated within the discourse of poetry. In this way, poetry gains an interdisciplinary as well as a polyphonic character with the inclusion of different discourses from different disciplines like the discourse of ecology or law.
Beginning from the 1970s, continuing to the present, the poetic diction of traditional English poetry is put aside in contemporary British poetry. The poetry becomes more socially oriented. Different discourses such as political and scientific discourse are included within poetry. As Peter Barry also expresses, contemporary British poetry becomes overtly politicised, it becomes a poetry of making statements which are feminist, or anarchist, or green, or pacifist, or Marxist and in this sense its discourse is of a scientific, technological, historical, or mythical kind (15).
The reasons for the emergence of contemporary British poetry is also described by Kennedy as the erosion of post-war consensus and greater economic and social division which leads to the collapse of a master narrative which many commentators would find characteristic of the wider condition of postmodernity in western societies (7). In this regard, Simon Armitage (Scottish), Paul Durcan (Irish), Glyn Maxwell (English), Peter Didsbury (English) and Ian McMillan (English) are the poets who write against totalizations of grand narratives and challenge their validity (Kennedy 7).
From a broader perspective, contemporary British poetry s reaffirming the art s significance as public utterance, and in this way poetry s gaining social and political overtones, provides poets with an opportunity to express their own political ideas, social views and individual identities in their poetry (Hulse et. al. 16). Moreover, in Hulse et. al. s words, the beginning of the end of British poetry s tribal divisions and isolation enables poets from different ethnic backgrounds to find a place for themselves within contemporary British poetry while preserving their unique identities (16).
Contemporary British poetry, situating itself against the mainstream literary tradition in opposition to the already constructed literary canon, came to be defined, especially during the 1970s and the 1980s, as the work of previously excluded or marginalized poets and as alternative and oppositional poetry, and thus, opened the path for experimentation in poetic practices both technically and thematically. Therefore, it can be claimed that contemporary British poetry is characterized not by a national literature written in favour of Britishness, but includes a diversity of voices in which poets of different national roots find opportunity to express their own distinct identity. In an English speaking society, contemporary British poetry has the potential to express regional diversities with the Scotish and Irish poets who present problems of identity and poets of Commonwealth countries, Britain s ex-colonies, who deal with similar problems of identity and national consciousness. In accordance with this, there are varieties of directions in contemporary British poetry among which Concrete Poetry, Language Poetry, Feminist Poetry and Contemporary Black British Poetry are observed.
Two Scottish poets, Ian Hamilton Finlay and Edwin Morgan, introduced British readers to Concrete Poetry which claims to be an international movement, putting emphasis on shape and typographical descriptions creating a visual effect and thus, transcending national and regional divisions (Draper 222).
While Concrete Poetry uses painting and picture rather than language, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry taken up by Robert Crawford and W.N. Herbert, experimented with the word itself focusing on the idea of poetry being the reverse of what it is usually thought to be; not an idea gradually shaping itself in words but deriving entirely from the words (Hulse et. al. 19). Poetry for the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets conveyed political overtones as an expression of the linguistic subjugation of people. With the influence of postmodernism and the dominance of discursive mode on contemporary British poetry, language for Language Poetry becomes the subject of poetry rather than a medium of expressing ideas (Kennedy 14). The question of the power of language and challenging its capacity to provide communication are recurring themes of Language Poetry as seen in John Ash s poems.
Contemporary British poetry also enables poets to express their unique and contradictory individual identities which are not easily accepted by the society. The politics of gender dealing with the lesbian, gay and homosexual identities also contributed to the plurality of contemporary British poetry. With a commitment to recovering the experience of the suppressed and unrepresented, an increasing number of women poets like Carol Ann Duffy as a Scottish poet and Jackie Kay as a black Scottish poet contributed to the establishment of a significant role for poetry (in Britain) as a mode of feminist cultural politics (Huk 9). Although till the 1980s no women poet s anthology could be seen, in 1985 The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Women Poets and in 1987 The Faber Book of Twentieth Century Women s Poetry were published (Childs, Twentieth Century in Poetry 163). Similarly, Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse was published in 1983 and included both gay male and lesbian poems (Williams 1).
In addition to Feminist Poetry which deals with the individual and personal identity, Irish poetry deals with definitions of national identity. Seamus Heaney s use of Co. Derry vernacular in his poetry is followed by other poets from Northern Ireland like Paul Muldoon, Ciaran Carson and Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill who use the Gaelic language functionally to recuperate the forgotten history of their nation (Corcoran 197). Additionally, the poetry of Robert Crawford and W. N. Herbert is an assertion of Scottish nationalism with an emphasis on Scotland s historical record of linguistic subjugation (Hulse et. al. 20). Similarly, Grahame Davies is a contemporary Welsh poet and a novelist who writes both in Welsh and English and was the winner of Wales Arts Council s Book of the Year for 2002 ( http://www.grahamedavies.com ).
The pluralistic atmosphere of contemporary British poetry allows the formerly marginalized voices of different ethnic, class and racial origins to find expression in contemporary black British poetry, the development of which coincides with the emergence and rise of issues of immigration and racism after the 1940s (Niven 293). The emergence of contemporary black British poetry, thus, is not only the result of major political and cultural changes, the pluralist nature and the more democratic atmosphere of contemporary British poetry also enabled its appearance and main