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The Construction of Memory and Power Relations in Elizabeth

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The Construction of Memory and Power Relations in Elizabeth UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE CÓRDOBA FACULTAD DE LENGUAS MAESTRÍA EN INGLÉS CON ORIENTACIÓN EN LITERATURA ANGLOAMERICANA The Construction of Memory and Power Relations in Elizabeth Nunez’s Prospero’s Daughter, Andrea Levy’s The Long Song and Joanne Hillhouse’s Oh Gad! Trabajo de tesis Maestranda: Andrea Montani Directora: Dra. María José Buteler Co-directora: Dra. María Alejandra Olivares Córdoba, abril de 2019 Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowlegements .................................................................................................................. 3 General Introduction ............................................................................................................... 4 Chapter I. Theoretical Framework.......................................................................................... 7 1. Power ........................................................................................................................... 7 2. Memory ..................................................................................................................... 15 3. Cultural Identity ......................................................................................................... 22 4. The contact zone ........................................................................................................ 26 Chapter II. Prospero’s Daughter and the De/Re-construction of Memory .......................... 28 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 28 2. Colonization and the manipulation of memory ................................................. 29 2.1 Displacement ........................................................................................................... 29 2.2. Education and cultural memories .......................................................................... 33 2. 3. Silenced Memories ................................................................................................ 36 3. Memory as Resistance .................................................................................................. 39 Chapter III. The Song of my Life: Resisting the Colonization of the Past in The Long Song .............................................................................................................................................. 48 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 48 2. Between Individual and Collective Memory ................................................................ 49 3. Memory and power struggles ....................................................................................... 55 Chapter IV. Rewriting Homes in Oh Gad! ........................................................................... 67 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 67 2. Re-membering Selves in Translation ........................................................................ 68 3. Sites of memory and the Re-Creation of the Past ...................................................... 77 Chapter V. Looking Back: A Comparative Analysis of the Representation of Memory ..... 85 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 85 2. A Pragmatic Approach to Memory ............................................................................... 86 3. The Representation of Memories .................................................................................. 92 Chapter VI. Conclusions ...................................................................................................... 97 Works cited ......................................................................................................................... 101 1 Abstract As explained by Aleida Assman, the last two decades of the 20th century saw the development and consolidation of memory research, a diverse field including “neuronal, medical, and psychological as well as literary, cultural, social, and political studies” that investigate “how we live by our memories, how we are haunted by them, how we use and abuse them” (210). The boom in memory studies results from a widespread interest in the revisiting of the past generated, among other factors, by the postcolonial situation in which humans that have been deprived of their indigenous history and culture are trying to (re)write their own narratives and memories (210-211). The present thesis centers on the Anglophone Caribbean – where formal colonialism began to disappear in the 1960s – and aims at exploring the construction of memory as represented in a selection of three novels published by Caribbean women writers in the 21st century. These are Elizabeth Nunez’s Prospero’s Daughter (2006), Andrea Levy’s The Long Song (2010) and Joanne Hillhouse’s Oh Gad! (2012). The initial hypothesis of this study is that, in the corpus under consideration, memory is represented as a contact zone permeated by struggles between cultures in asymmetrical power relations. It is creatively constructed in multiple spaces and practices, and results from the attempt to (re)write Caribbean identities. In relation to the theoretical background supporting the analysis, this study is grounded in a selection of categories which includes Michel Foucault’s and Anibal Quijano’s theories of power, both based on the conception of power as a dynamic relationship involving conflict and struggle –, Mary Louise Pratt’s definition of the contact zone and Stuart Hall’s theories of cultural identities in general, and of Caribbean cultural identities in particular. The discussion of memory is anchored in Halbwachs’ concept of collective memory, Nora’s definition of the lieux de memoire, Jan Assman’s distinction between communicative and cultural memory, and Paul Ricoeur’s analysis of the pragmatic dimension of memory, among others. 2 Acknowlegements I wish to express my deepest gratitude to María José Buteler and María Alejandra Olivares for their careful guidance, their insightful comments and invaluable support. I would also like to thank Mónica Cuello, Mercedes Fernández Beschtedt, Viviana Fonseca, Paola Formiga, Zoraida Risso Patrón, Lucía Valls, Ma. Angélica Verdú and Magdalena Zinkgräf for their generous help and continuous encouragement. I am deeply grateful to my parents, Stella and Abel, and my sisters, Marianela and Carolina, for always being there and making sure I had the time and energy to continue writing. I owe special thanks to Matías, my partner, for his endless patience and support, for helping me find the time to work on my thesis and not lose focus. Thanks to my son, Vitto, for his joy and happiness. 3 General Introduction As explained by Aleida Assman, the last two decades of the 20th century saw the development and consolidation of memory research, a diverse field including “neuronal, medical, and psychological as well as literary, cultural, social, and political studies” that investigate “how we live by our memories, how we are haunted by them, how we use and abuse them” (210). The boom in memory studies results from a widespread interest in the revisiting of the past generated, according to the author, by the following processes: the digital revolution that created more efficient ways of storing and circulating information, the fall of the so-called “grand narratives” at the end of the Cold War, the disclosure of the sealed archives of the former Communist countries – which provided a new basis for the rereading of history –, and the post-traumatic situation after the Holocaust and the two World Wars. Most importantly for the purposes of this investigation, the strong interest in the past was also partly stimulated by the postcolonial situation in which humans that have been deprived of their indigenous history and culture are trying to (re)write their own narratives and memories (210-211). The present thesis centers on the Anglophone Caribbean – where formal colonialism began to disappear in the 1960s – and aims at exploring the construction of memory as represented in a selection of three novels published by Caribbean women writers in the 21st century. These are Elizabeth Nunez’s Prospero’s Daughter (2006), Andrea Levy’s The Long Song (2010) and Joanne Hillhouse’s Oh Gad! (2012). Set in different moments of the Caribbean history, the three texts revolve around and develop in the Caribbean. It must be noted that, even though the novels represent the cultural, historical, political and socioeconomic realities of three different islands, namely Trinidad in the case of Prospero’s Daughter, Jamaica in Levy’s novel and Antigua in Oh Gad!, this analysis starts from the assumption that the islands form a submarine unity1, and thus their cultures and histories are intimately related. 1 The concept of the submarine unity was first proposed by Barbadian Kamau Brathwaite and subscribed by Martinican Edouard Glissant, who in a presentation titled “The Quarrel with History” (...) integrates the Antilles as part of the same historical movement and culture (Bonfiglio 34). 4 The initial hypothesis of this study is that, in the corpus under consideration, memory is represented as a contact zone permeated by struggles between cultures
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