Everyday Movements of Errantry
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BRYAN, AMANDA LEIGH, Ph.D. Everyday Movements of Errantry. (2019) Directed by Dr. Ben Clarke. 261 pp. Everyday Movements of Errantry examines Édouard Glissant’s theory of errantry, defined as sacred wanderings which result in the development of relational identities, as a means of diminishing Othering practices that occur across various aspects of identity. Though scholars of Caribbean literature have long examined errantry in spatial practices, such as migration, exile, and displacement, my approach focuses on errantry perceived in embodied, everyday movements in the texts Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson, A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul, The Dragon Can’t Dance by Earl Lovelace and Opal Palmer Adisa’s It Begins with Tears. Each text provides a different view of power relations, whether in power, subjugated, or fluctuating, which informs a character’s use of Othering practices. I analyze these texts’ micro-narratives to uncover everyday movements of errantry, which, I argue, inform characters’ identity constructions as members of various racial, classed, gendered, and sexual groups. I contend that as characters’ micro-movements bring them into contact with their Other, practices of Othering diminish as a character’s errantry increases. With the diminishment of Othering practices, characters develop relational identities, which are pluralistic in nature. I argue that these small-scale embodied movements of errantry operate to perform and to secure pluralistic identities for Caribbean subjects, influenced by both their root cultures and new interrelations with Others. EVERYDAY MOVEMENTS OF ERRANTRY by Amanda Leigh Bryan A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Greensboro 2019 Approved by Ben Clarke___________ Committee Chair To D. G. Haradon, for first inspiring my love of writing. You are here with me in these pages. ii APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation written by Amanda Leigh Bryan has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Chair ______Ben Clarke________________________________ Committee Members ______Risa Applegarth____________________________ ______María Sánchez____________________________ _____February 11, 2019________ Date of Acceptance by Committee ______February 11, 2019_____ Date of Final Oral Examination iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I extend my sincere gratitude to my chair, Ben Clarke, and committee members, Risa Applegarth and María Sánchez, for their guidance, feedback, and patience throughout this process. I also thank Gia Sorenson for her endless assistance with revisions, including her thoughtful comments and suggests, draft after draft. Not least, I thank my husband, Timothée, for his unending support— believe, belief, beyond. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: ERRANTRY’S ROLE IN DIMINISHING OTHERING ..... 1 II. TRACING ERRANTRY: TAN-TAN’S PATHS THROUGH RACIAL OTHERING IN MIDNIGHT ROBBER .......................................................... 29 The Tallpeople Village of Junjuh: Othering and Exoticism ............... 40 Exile with Benta and Chichibud: Transitioning from Othering .......... 48 The Daddy Tree Community: Becoming the Other ............................ 63 Surviving with Abitefa: Diminishing Othering .................................. 68 III. TRACKING STASIS: DEVELOPING MR. BISWAS’S CLASSED IDENTITY IN A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS ................................................ 77 The Root and The Other ..................................................................... 82 Power Relations with The Other ......................................................... 90 Stasis through Errantry ..................................................................... 102 Errant Modes of Transportation ........................................................ 112 Relations in Class .............................................................................. 124 IV. CIRCLING BELONGING: ALDRICK’S EVOLVING MASCULINITY IN THE DRAGON CAN’T DANCE .............................................................. 135 Non-Movement and Non-Possession in Calvary Hill ....................... 139 Carnival’s Frantic Dragon Dance ..................................................... 152 Circular Movements on the Corner................................................... 162 Down the Hill .................................................................................... 174 V. GENERIC ERRANTRY: DIMINISHING SEXUAL OTHERING IN IT BEGINS WITH TEARS ................................................................................. 184 Beginning with Drama ...................................................................... 193 A Pathway in Caribbean Mythology................................................. 199 A Hiatus into Oral Storytelling ......................................................... 209 A Veer to a Dream Vision ................................................................ 211 Moving throughout Prose ................................................................. 214 v Five Journeys through Poetry ........................................................... 231 VI. CONCLUSION: AN ERRANTRY FOR ANOTHER PATH TO IDENTITY RELATIONS ............................................................................. 240 WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................. 249 vi LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. “Sankofa” Adrinkra Pictorial .............................................................................55 Figure 2. 2016 Pan MacMillian Cover ..............................................................................89 Figure 3. 1961 Andre Deutsch Cover ................................................................................93 Figure 4. 1985 Penguin Publishing Cover .......................................................................108 Figure 5. 2003 Picador Publishing Cover ........................................................................111 Figure 6. 2001 Vintage International Cover ....................................................................118 Figure 7. 2001 Vintage International Alternative Cover ................................................ 133 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: ERRANTRY’S ROLE IN DIMINISHING OTHERING This project sparked into existence during a presentation of my article, “Alice’s Struggles with Imperialism: Undermining the British Empire through Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” where I discussed Alice’s role in helping further anti-imperialistic ideals in Britain through childhood indoctrinations. During questions, a woman stood and with disdain stated, “But Alice is white.” I responded with a statement about the colonization of Ireland and Dodgson’s intended audience. But I began at that moment considering the power dynamics between community’s insiders and outsiders and how some people in society assume abilities, experiences, and beliefs based on specific aspects of identity, even when discussing children’s literature. My subsequent research in postcolonial studies, specifically into Caribbean theorists and literatures, led to my interest in Othering and ways of diminishing its attitudes. Far before Brexit and Trumpism foregrounded this issue, Othering practices caused concern. Now, as Western societies become frighteningly divisive and tribalistic, Caribbean theorists provide an indispensable lesson on gaining better Relations. My research into diminishing Othering begins with the concept of errantry, most notably used by Édouard Glissant in his text, Poetics of Relation. In essence, Glissant argues that through the practice of errantry individuals gain fuller identities, which are not only based on their roots but also their Relations with Others. Glissant states that this 1 Relational identity, and I would add viewing the world from a Relational stance, develops individuals’ capacities for dialectics, relying on both dialectic’s connotations of discussion and tension. Relationally, individuals gain the ability to engage in discussions of tension-filled topics, resulting in growth and social harmony. Glissant’s concept of Relations which stems from one’s errantry, can become a method for diminishing Othering. As I analyze identity evolution and Othering behaviors, my use of Glissant’s errantry focuses on dialectical tensions visible in individuals’ micro-movements. Communities may engage in errantry as they move or relocate (such examples could be read during specific moments in both Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber and V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas); however, deciphering communal motivations and any resulting communal identity shifts becomes problematic with a theory accentuating diversity and particularity. For this reason, I reserve references to errantry for individuals and not groups. Errantry, as defined by Glissant, is “wandering but with a sacred motivation” (Wing 211). He begins his scholarship stressing the “wandering” as individual movements. Glissant states that during nomadic times the concept of errantry stressed personal adventure and physical advancement, not a culturally fixed origin: “The root is not important. Movement is” (14). Therefore, the cultural center and periphery