Violence in Francophone African and Caribbean Women's Literature

Marie-Chantal Kalisa

Description

African and Caribbean peoples share a history dominated by the violent disruptions of slavery and colonialism. While much has been said about these “geographies of pain,” violence in the private sphere, particularly gendered violence, receives little attention. This book fills that void. It is a critical addition to the study of African and Caribbean women’s literatures at a time when women from these regions are actively engaged in articulating the ways in which colonial and postcolonial violence impact women.

 

Chantal Kalisa examines the ways in which women writers lift taboos imposed on them by their society and culture and challenge readers with their unique perspectives on violence. Comparing women from different places and times, Kalisa treats types of violence such as colonial, familial, linguistic, and war-related, specifically linked to dictatorship and genocide. She examines Caribbean writers Michele Lacrosil, Simone Schwartz-Bart, Gisèle Pineau, and Edwidge Danticat, and Africans Ken Begul, Calixthe Beyala, Nadine Bar, and Monique Ilboudo. She also includes Sembène Ousmane and Frantz Fanon for their unique contributions to the questions of violence and gender. This study advances our understanding of the attempts of African and Caribbean women writers to resolve the tension between external forms of violence and internal forms resulting from skewed cultural, social, and political rules based on gender.

Sujets

• Córcega
• África
• Africa
• French
• Corsica
• France

Informations

• Publié par: Nebraska
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780803226883
• Langue: English

Extrait

violence in francophone african

& caribbean women’s literature

inFrancophone African&Caribbean Women’sLiterature

chantal kalisa

University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London

© 2009 by the Board of Regents

of the University of Nebraska

All rights reserved. Manufactured

in the United States of America

Acknowledgments for the

use of copyrighted material

appear on page viii, which

constitutes an extension

of the copyright page. ∞

Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data Kalisa, Chantal. Violence in Francophone African and Caribbean women’s literature/ Chantal Kalisa. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn978-0-8032-1102-5 (cloth: alk. paper) 1. African literature (French) — Women authors — History and criticism. 2. Caribbean literature (French) — Women authors — History and criticism. 3. Violence in literature. I. Title. pq3980.5.k36 2009 840.9'9287 — dc22 2009024323

Set in Galliard.

Designed by Nathan Putens.

vii

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42

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction Geographies of Pain

CHAPTER 1 Exclusion as Violence Frantz Fanon, Black Women, and Colonial Violence

CHAPTER 2 Representing Colonial Violence Michèle Lacrosil’sCajou, Ken Bugul’sLe baobab fou, and Ousmane Sembène’sLa noire de . . .

CHAPTER 3 Writing Familial Violence Storytelling and Intergenerational Violence in Simone Schwarz-Bart’sPluie et vent sur Télumée Miracleand Calixthe Beyala’sTu t’appelleras Tanga

CHAPTER 4 Sites of Violence Language, the Body, and Women’s Deterritorialization in Gisèle Pineau’sL’espérance-macadamand Calixthe Beyala’sC’est le soleil qui m’a brûlée

CHAPTER 5 War and Political Violence Nadine Bari’s, Edwidge Danticat’s, and Monique Ilboudo’s Literary Responses to Gender and Conflict

Conclusion

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Acknowledgments

A study of violence is difficult to undertake. I would like to recog- nize the many scholars, family members, and friends who made it easier. I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their astute comments that strengthened this study as well as to Ladette Ran- dolph, Kristen Elias Rowley, and Joeth Zucco at the University of Nebraska Press for their invaluable guidance in bringing this book to publication. I am particularly indebted to Anne Donadey, Jeanne Garane, and Dean Makuluni for their insightful observations and continuous involvement in my scholarship. For their support over the years, I wish to recognize Jacques Bourgeacq, Sandra Barkan, Rosemarie Scullion, Janet Altman, Louise Jefferson, Charles Stivale, Michael Giordano, Marshall Olds, Thomas Carr Jr., Gerise Herndon, Mar- garet Jacobs, Joy Ritchie, Josias Semujanga, and Odile Cazenave. I also thank all my colleagues at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln for their consistent encouragement.

My heartfelt gratitude goes to members of the Interdisciplinary Genocide Studies Center (igsc) in Kigali, Rwanda, most notably Rangira Béatrice Gallimore, Jean-Pierre Karegeye, Erik Ehn, and Roberta Levitow, whose engagement with issues of genocide, violence, justice, and reconciliation continue to shape my own arguments. Special thanks go to Christopher Steinke for his con- tributions. Most of all, I would like to acknowledge the invaluable support of family and friends. As always, loving thanks go to Jacob, Daniel, and Stephen Witte for their patience and understanding.

An earlier version of chapter 1 appeared as “Black Women and Literature: Revisiting Frantz Fanon’s Gender Politics” in theLit- erary Griot14.1–2 (Spring–Fall 2002): 1–22. A condensed version of chapter 2 appeared in a short article entitled “Colonial Violence and Trauma in the Works of Michèle Lacrosil and Ken Bugul,”Inter- national Journal of Francophone Studies3.1 (2000): 59–64. The section of chapter 4 entitled “Space, Violence, and Knowledge in Gisèle Pineau’sL’espérance-macadam” appeared in an earlier version under the same title in the volumeDiscursive Geographies: Writing Space and Place in French / Géographies Discursives: L’écriture de l’espace en langue française, edited by Jeanne Garane (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005), 103–17.

violence in francophone african

& caribbean women’s literature