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Economies of Entanglement: Reading Radical Cultural Work in the Anglophone Caribbean and Victorian Britain

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Economies of Entanglement: Reading Radical Cultural Work in the Anglophone Caribbean and Victorian Britain Economies of Entanglement: Reading Radical Cultural Work in the Anglophone Caribbean and Victorian Britain By Kathleen DeGuzman Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in English August, 2015 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Colin Dayan, Ph.D. Houston A. Baker, Jr., Ph.D. Ifeoma C.K. Nwankwo, Ph.D. Rachel Teukolsky, Ph.D. James A. Epstein, Ph.D. Copyright © 2015 by Kathleen DeGuzman All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I spent most of my life as a bookworm under the impression that reading, writing, and thinking were solitary endeavors. Graduate school taught me that such is fortunately not the case, and I am humbled to thank the individuals who have made my time at Vanderbilt such a transformative period both intellectually and personally. Colin Dayan, Ifeoma Nwankwo, Houston Baker, Rachel Teukolsky, and Jim Epstein have offered equal parts rigor and warmth as members of my committee. Jim’s questions always make me rethink what I assume is obvious about my work. Rachel’s eye for argumentation equips me with renewed vigor for revisions. Houston’s pep talks aid me in balancing life and work. Ifeoma’s knack for understanding my work before I do continues to shape how I see myself as a scholar. Colin’s intensity, excitement, and dedication have been apparent to me since our first meeting when I visited Vanderbilt in March 2010. Her eagle eye on my prose and ceaseless advocacy of my scholarship continually remind me that the critical work of academia is never an exercise in aesthetics. I also count Donna Caplan and Janis May as members of my committee for answering with aplomb and smiling faces my persnickety questions about the workings of the institution. Donna’s error of spelling my name “DeGuzmann” in early paperwork launched a wonderful friendship. I extend my gratitude to other members of the Vanderbilt community who have had a hand in my development. Teresa Goddu and Vera Kutzinski were among my favorite teachers during my time in coursework, and both have continued to meet me with good spirits during encounters in Benson. Organizing the C19 conference with Teresa also taught me priceless and unexpectedly entertaining lessons about working with intelligent people. Dana Nelson and Mark iii Wollaeger in their respective terms as DGS offered keen counsel whenever I walked into their offices. Mark Schoenfield, Roger Moore, and Jay Clayton, my three teaching mentors, were instrumental in helping me grow from a quiet student to a confident classroom teacher. I also send thanks to Richard Blackett in the History department for talking about Caribbean schoolrooms with me for a 2012 interview and helping me secure lodging in Barbados for a summer research trip. The intellectual community at Vanderbilt has also been a joyous place to make friends. I thank Faith Barter, R.J. Boutelle, Annie Castro, Dan Fang, Lucy Mensah, Petal Samuel, and Nikki Spigner for bringing merriment and therapy into my life and helping me come out of my recalcitrant shell. Faith deserves extra thanks for furthermore putting up with me during crucial consultation sessions at the Writing Studio. Jennifer Bagneris, Andy Hines, and Killian Quigley have also been part of my team during the past five years as members of my cohort. Diana Bellonby was a fantastic peer mentor during my first year in the program. Annette Joseph- Gabriel and Roxane Pajoul helped me navigate the francophone terrain of Guadeloupe in summer 2012 with laughter; Annette continues to crack me up via Skype even when she is in Massachusetts or France. Lara Giordano listened to me vent during countless evenings at the Belcourt. The team of Gary Jaeger, John Bradley, Elizabeth Covington, and Kristen Sullivan at Vanderbilt’s Writing Studio sustained a merry place to work during my fourth year. I have yet to find a place on campus as downright fun as the Writing Studio. The Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities created an ideal work environment as I finished writing my dissertation. My fellow fellows, Jessica Burch, Adam Burgos, Daniel McAuley, Luis Menéndez-Antuña, Carly Rush, Amy Tan, and Brendan Weaver, offered me iv generous feedback and models of scholarly accomplishment. I am also happy for the inside jokes we developed together. Edward Friedman, Joy Ramirez, and Terry Tripp also supported me through friendly conversations during my year at the RPW Center. Mona Frederick is a maestro of humanities advocacy and taught me a great deal about universities beyond the unit of the academic department. Dillon Brown, Aaron Kamugisha, and Evelyn O’Callaghan are faces I am always happy to see at conferences. I have been lucky enough to meet Erna Brodber and George Lamming, and I thank them for engaging in interviews with me. Deborah Lilton, Carson Holloway, Beth Howse, and Jessica Lewis, librarians at Vanderbilt, Duke, Fisk, and UWI Cave Hill, respectively, kindly aided me when I needed books or periodicals. Eugene Crook guided me through the streets of London and onto my path to graduate school during a pivotal semester as an undergraduate at Florida State University. Judy Rodman and John Glavin helped me find my voice. Jenna Wolf showed me the importance of taking care of my body. Lelia Gilchrist and Larry Woodson designed perhaps the best garage apartment in Nashville. Working in and coming home to such a space will be one of my greatest memories of living in Nashville. Michelle Rubin continually brings balance, perspective, and delicious food into my life. Emma Ingrisani remains my go-to interlocutor when it comes to movies and music. Tim Kowalik and his family taught me the importance of letting dogs into life. I am also indebted to Tim for helping me accept that I can be a dedicated scholar and still enjoy the video games from my childhood. I am grateful to have a family that always welcomes me home with excitement and warmth even when they are not entirely sure what I am up to in Nashville. I especially would v like to thank Orfie, my maternal grandmother, for always having a proud smile on her face when I see her and Fred, my older brother, for letting me crash at his apartment en route to visits home. My parents, Robert and Imelda, deserve my greatest thanks. Whether or not they know it, my parents cultivated my curiosity by allowing me to spend hours in libraries, bookstores, and art house movie theaters. More importantly, my parents have always given me the opportunity to succeed. Maraming salamat. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii INTRODUCTION Reading Entanglement ..................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I. The Roots of Radical Cultural Work: Respectability and Nineteenth-Century Women in the Caribbean Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 20 Maria Nugent: Radical Respectability ........................................................................................... 26 “A Great Chasm in My Journal”: The Limits of Nugent’s Cultural Work ................................... 35 Mary Prince: The Respectable Activist ......................................................................................... 40 “I Think It Is My Duty to Relate”: Prince as Cultural Worker ..................................................... 44 Prince’s Positioning ....................................................................................................................... 52 II. Obeah and “‘Other Things’”: Wide Sargasso Sea, Jane Eyre, and the Price of Freedom Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 58 Wide Sargasso Sea: Plantation Ruins ............................................................................................ 65 Representing, Regulating, and Higglering Obeah ......................................................................... 71 Christophine’s Radicalism ............................................................................................................. 84 Jane Eyre: Revisiting Jamaican Connections ................................................................................ 90 Madeira Wine, Creole Drunkards, and Jane’s “Average” Politics ................................................ 95 Women’s Investments and Chartist Connections ........................................................................ 101 III. Signs of the Times: John Ruskin, Jamaica Kincaid, and the Architecture of History Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 105 John Ruskin: The Aesthetics of Slavery ...................................................................................... 116 Ruskin’s Material Idiom of History ............................................................................................ 124 Jamaica Kincaid: Angry Prophet ................................................................................................. 132 Kincaid’s Landscape Architecture .............................................................................................. 139 Fiction as Paradoxical Prophecy ................................................................................................
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