Gonçalo Piolti Cholant

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Gonçalo Piolti Cholant SINCE WHY IS DIFFICULT THE REPRESENTATION OF VIOLENCE AND TRAUMA IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND AFRO- CARIBBEAN LITERATURE BY WOMEN: AUTOBIOGRAPHY, FICTION, AND SUBJECTIVITY CONSTRUCTION IN THE BILDUNGSROMAN Tese no âmbito do Doutoramento em Línguas Modernas: Culturas, Literaturas, Tradução - Ramo: Culturas e Literaturas orientada pela Professora Doutora Isabel Caldeira apresentada ao Departamento de Línguas, Literaturas e Culturas da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra Dezembro de 2018 Faculdade de Letras Since Why is Difficult The Representation of Violence and Trauma in African-American and Afro-Caribbean Literature by Women: Autobiography, Fiction, and Subjectivity Construction in the Bildungsroman Gonçalo Piolti Cholant Tese no âmbito do Doutoramento em Línguas Modernas: Culturas, Literaturas, Tradução – Ramo: Culturas e Literaturas orientada pela Professora Doutora Isabel Caldeira apresentada ao Departamento de Línguas, Literaturas e Culturas da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra Dezembro de 2018 “There is really nothing more to say—except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.” Toni Morrison - The Bluest Eye . Acknowledgements Firstly, I am extremely grateful for all the attention and care provided by Professor Isabel Caldeira, my advisor, without whom the present work could not have been done. Her careful observations, rigorous and meticulous revising, and most importan of all, her generous spirit, have deeply contributed to the development of this work, and the development of my role as a researcher and as a student. Words cannot convey my gratitude. I am also indebted to all the professors who have contributed in my formative years as a student in the University of Coimbra, who have inspired me, taught me, corrected me, and shared their knowledge through the years. Professor Maria Irene Ramalho, Professor Maria José Canelo, Professor Adriana Bebiano, Professor Isabel Pedro, and Professor Teresa Tavares, thank you for all your dedication and wisdom. I must also thank the librarians at Biblioteca Norte/Sul in the Center for Social Studies, Maria José Carvalho, Acácio Machado, and Inês Lima for their unfailing attention, care and warmth over the years. Research has been made easier because of your fantastic work. In the North-American Studies institute, Dona Dina has always been a touch of positivity over the years. My most sincere appreciation for your help. I am also grateful for all those who have treaded this path alongside me, friends who are made into family, either here or scattered all over the world, all those who have made my days on this side of the Atlantic a joyous adventure and who have made it possible for me to call it home. Here I must borrow the words of Jamaica Kincaid: “Friendship is a simple thing, and yet complicated; friendship is on the surface, something natural, something taken for granted, and yet underneath one could find worlds”. Particularly, I would like to thank Milton Pacheco for all his kindness and care. Furthermore, I would like to thank those who are far, but are never forgotten: Gisele, Valéria, Guilherme, and Emília, thank you for helping me become who I am. I must also thank my family for their understanding, and for believing in my potential. Finally, I must thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for granting me the scholarship (SFRH/BD/103174/2014), which allowed me to pursue this investigation, the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Coimbra (FLUC), and The Center for Social Studies (CES). I Abstract The present work deals with the representation of trauma and violence in coming-of- age stories written by African-American and Afro-Caribbean women authors in the United States. The kinds of violence explored in this work are related to the post-colonial condition the women protagonists experience, in which racism, sexism, classism, among other kinds of discrimination, are co-created in an intersectional experience of oppression. The titles analyzed in this work are: Lucy (1990), written by Jamaica Kincaid; Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), written by Edwidge Danticat; Bone Black – Memories of Girlhood (1996), written by bell hooks; and God Help the Child (2015), written by Toni Morrison. The Bildungsroman genre serves as the form with which the authors are able to display the different forms of violence experienced during the the process of growing up female and black in the United States, and also in the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Haiti, in the cases of Kincaid and Danticat respectively. The coming-of-age stories written by women, and more specifically by African- American and Afro-Caribbean women, tend to showcase narratives in which the tensions between the protagonists’ self-determination and the influence of social and cultural factors in their development opportunities are negotiated. The genre is adapted and subverted by the authors, deviating from its canonical European origins, becoming a site in which the authors are able to represent different kinds of violence, and the subsequent traumatic consequences caused by it. Through the perspective of the Sociology of Absences (Santos), the analysis focuses on bringing to the fore types of violence that have previously been made invisible by colonialism, as creative work may more clearly see beyond the abysmal line, serving as a form of analysing realities that are often not perceived in their entirety. Literature turns out to be a space of resistance, in which the representation of violence and trauma, to some extent, becomes possible, serving as a tool for the denunciation of violence and trauma, in addition to becoming a tool for the overcoming of trauma. KEYWORDS: Trauma, Violence, Representations of Violence, Literature, African- American Literature, Afro-Caribbean Literature, Jamaica Kincaid, Edwidge Danticat, bell hooks, Toni Morrison. II Resumo O presente trabalho lida com a representação do trauma e da violência em narrativas de formação escritas por autoras Afro-Americanas e Afro-Caribenhas nos Estados Unidos. Os tipos de violência explorados pelas neste trabalho estão relacionados com a condição pós-colonial vividas pelas protagonistas, na qual racismo, sexismo, classismo, dentre outras formas de discriminação são co-formadas em uma experiência interserccional de opressão. Os títulos analizados neste trabalho são: Lucy (1990), escrito por Jamaica Kincaid; Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), escrito por Edwidge Danticat; Bone Black – Memories of Girlhood (1996), escrito por bell hooks; e God Help the Child (2015), escrito por Toni Morrison. O gênero literário Bildungsroman serve como a forma com a qual as autoras são capazes de demonstrar as differentes formas de violência vividas pelas protagonistas durante o processo de crescimento como mulheres e negras nos Estados Unidos, e também nas ilhas Caribenhas de Antígua e Haiti, nos casos de Kincaid e de Danticat respectivamente. As narrativas de fomação escritas por mulheres, e mais especificamente por mulheres afro-americanas e afro-caribenhas, tendem a demonstrar percursos em que as tensões entre a autodeterminação das protagonistas e as influências sociais e culturais que incidem sobre as suas oportunidades de desenvolvimento são negociadas. O gênero literário em questão é adaptado e subvertido pelas autoras, desviando-se de sua forma canônica europeia, tornando-se um espaço em que as autoras são capazes de representar diferentes formas de violência e as subsequentes consequências traumáticas causadas pela mesma. Através da perspectiva da Sociologia das Ausências (Santos), a análise concentra-se em trazer para o primeiro plano tipos de violência que foram previamente construídos como invisívies pelo colonialismo, já que a escrita de cariz criativo é capaz de mais claramente ver além da linha abissal, servindo como uma forma de análise de realidades que frequentemente não são inteiramente percebidas. A literatura acaba por ser uma espaço de resistência, no qual a representação da violência e do trauma, até algum ponto, torna-se possível, servindo como ferramenta para a denúncia da violência e do trauma, além de tornar-se uma ferramenta no processo de superação do trauma. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Trauma, Violência, Representações da Violência, Literatura, Literatura Afro-Americana, Literatura Afro-Caribenha, Jamaica Kincaid, Edwidge Danticat, bell hooks, Toni Morrison. III IV Index Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... I Abstract .................................................................................................................... II Resumo .................................................................................................................... III Index ......................................................................................................................... V 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 American Studies, Black Women, Literature and the Right to Say Something About All of These -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 1.1.1 Claiming American Studies ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 1.1.2 Language, Literature, and American Studies ------------------------------------------------------ 11 1.1.3 Violence and Trauma -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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