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The Meanings and Myths of Collective Civil Resistance Movements in African American and Polish Postresistance Prose Fiction

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The Meanings and Myths of Collective Civil Resistance Movements in African American and Polish Postresistance Prose Fiction Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 1-31-2014 12:00 AM Unmasking the Protester: The Meanings and Myths of Collective Civil Resistance Movements in African American and Polish Postresistance Prose Fiction Agnieszka Herra The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Paul Coates The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Comparative Literature A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Agnieszka Herra 2014 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, American Literature Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons, Rhetoric Commons, Slavic Languages and Societies Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Herra, Agnieszka, "Unmasking the Protester: The Meanings and Myths of Collective Civil Resistance Movements in African American and Polish Postresistance Prose Fiction" (2014). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 1890. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/1890 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNMASKING THE PROTESTER: THE MEANINGS AND MYTHS OF COLLECTIVE CIVIL RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN AND POLISH POSTRESISTANCE PROSE FICTION (Monograph) by Agnieszka Herra Graduate Program in Comparative Literature A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Agnieszka Herra 2014 Abstract My contention is that the narrative framework of social movements, especially the ones deemed “successful” such as the American Civil Rights Movement and the Polish Solidarity Movement, reflects unity, collectivity, and group success in collective memory. During the period of the movements’ duration, this provides a clear rhetorical purpose: to give the appearance of unity in order to be cohesive and give effective voice to the demands. Once the movements end, this vision of collective identity usually continues because of the symbolic and political gains made, even if the mass collective no longer functions as a whole. I argue that the voices that did not fit into the collective movements emerge subsequently to question this monologic language in literary form. I call this “postresistance” literature because of its production after the movements, but also because it examines the ways in which individuals established their political voice within the totalizing narrative frameworks of social movements. This dissertation uses Bakhtin’s notion of dialogic language to argue that novels in the postresistance period challenge the mythical underpinnings of the movements, as well as collective memory, in order to give voice to individual’s experience of the movement. Using postmodern theory, I establish a postresistance analytic framework. The novels I examine resist a narrative of progress from oppression to freedom. Through their fragmented narratives and shifts in time, the individual characters react to the rhetorical frameworks of the movements. I use novels written after the American Civil Rights Movement and Polish Solidarity Movement in order to provide a more complete conception of this postresistance analysis. Ishmael Reed’s Flight to Canada (1976) and Stefan Chwin’s Hanemann (1995) allow me to discuss how dialogic voices question the conception of place and its imagined link to history and myth. I use Alice Walker’s Meridian (1976) and Janusz Anderman’s Cały Czas (2006) to focus on individuals within the movements who question the rhetorical motivations of the movements. By unmasking these protesters, these novels offer a more nuanced view of collective civil resistance movements. ii Keywords Civil Resistance, Social Movements, Narrative, Literature, Non-violence, Postresistance, Collective Memory, Myth, Rhetoric, Mikhail Bakhtin, Novel, Solidarity Movement, Poland, African American Civil Rights Movement, United States, Ishmael Reed, Stefan Chwin, Alice Walker, Janusz Anderman iii Acknowledgments There have been so many people who have contributed to this project and my whole journey in getting to this point. I am so grateful that I have so many amazing people in my life who have supported me through both the joyous and the difficult times. First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Paul Coates, who has been so wonderful to work with because of his quick feedback and positive support. Thank you for agreeing to take on my project. Thank you to Dr. Bryce Traister for being a valuable asset to this dissertation as a second pair of eyes. Your feedback has been integral to the shape of this project. Other professors who have been a great source of support on this journey have been Dr. David Darby, Dr. Laurence de Looze, Dr. Janelle Blankenship, Dr. Vladimir Tumanov, Dr. Angela Borchert, Dr. Melitta Adamson, Dr. Calin Mihailescu, Dr. Nandi Bhatia, Dr. Teresa Hubel, and Dr. Henri Boyi. Thank you so much for your mentorship and encouragement. I am also grateful for the support staff in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department, especially Teresa Aconito, Sylvia Kontra and Dawn Gingerich, who were always there to help and made this process go so smoothly. My colleagues at the Teaching Support Centre have also done so much help me develop my skills as a teacher and a graduate student. My professors at Wilfrid Laurier University and Queen’s University were also instrumental in getting me to this point. I want to thank my parents, Joanna and Tomasz Herra, who have been so completely supportive and encouraging of my education. They sacrificed so much by immigrating to Canada many years ago. I know that they did it for my benefit and I am so grateful. Kocham Was! I also want to thank the rest of my family who have been a constant source of support, even if some of them live across an ocean. Kocham was bardzo Paweł, Babcia Ela, Dziadziuś Kaziu, Wujek Wojtek, Ciocia Kasia, Ciocia Bożenka, Wujek Marek, Ciocia Krysia, Wujek Krzysiu, Ciocia Hania, Asia, Ala, Filip, Ania, Wojtek, Marcin i kochana Babcia Mela. I want to dedicate this project to my late grandfather, Teodor Herra, who stood up for his beliefs. To my friends who I could not have done this without: I love each and every one of you. I cannot express how much all of you have supported me and made me truly happy. Mariam: I iv am so thankful for the technology that allowed us to talk pretty much every day. You are such an amazing person and you got me through so many tough times. Nazia: I know it was meant to be that we were in the same cohort and I am so grateful that we were there for each other. You are also my rock. There is a piece of my heart missing now that you are so far away. Naz: Thank you for always having a place for me to stay in Toronto and all of our girly chats and for pushing me to do things I never would have done on my own. You are a true friend and I am so grateful for all that you have brought into my life. Danielle and Michelle: There is a very special reason we became friends and I am so, so grateful for that. You both have brought so much light into my life and I treasure all the time we have spent together. Meg: No one makes me laugh as much you do. You are such a special person and I am so thankful that you are my friend. Jane: We have known each other since Grade 5 and it makes me so happy that we are still friends as I finally finish school. You are so wonderful! Maria: Thank you for being such a great friend and an amazing support system in my first few years here. To the Miller family: Thank you for believing in me and thank you, Gail, for being such an inspiring mentor. Thank you also to Élika, for your support and providing of dog therapy, Jen, for helping me become the person I am, Rachael, for your kindness and friendship, Alex, for your smile, your support, and our sushi lunches, and Kristyn, for being the same person as me. And to Steve: thank you for being in my life and for your constant support. I cannot wait for our future adventures together, for all the mountains we will conquer and for all the seas we will cross. I love you. I am grateful that this project has been supported by OGS and SSHRC. v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Keywords ........................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vi Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 ........................................................................................................................... 13 1 Collective Movements: Terminology, History and Rhetoric ......................................
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