THE MOTHER’S MARK: MATRILINEAL INSCRIPTION, CORPOREALITY, AND IDENTITY FORMATION IN MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS IN BLACK WOMEN’S LITERATURE By Destiny O. Birdsong 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, 2012 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Professor Ifeoma C. K. Nwankwo Professor Hortense J. Spillers Professor Lucius T. Outlaw, Jr. Professor Kate Daniels Copyright © 2012 by Destiny O. Birdsong All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation was only possible through the funding of Vanderbilt University; particularly the Graduate School, the College of Arts and Science, and the English Department. Over the past six years, a PhD fellowship, a graduate assistantship, a dissertation-year fellowship, an Arts and Sciences Dean’s Select Award, work study opportunities, travel grants, and other forms of funding have all been indispensable in the completion of this project. Additionally, several semester-long fellowships at the Vanderbilt University Writing Studio not only helped me discover my great love for working with student writers, but also gave me the opportunity to improve my own writing skills. I owe a special thanks to the director, Jennifer Holt, whose work with me during the revision stage of this dissertation has truly transformed it. Jen, I cannot emphasize how valuable your feedback has been—both to this process as well as to my development as a writer. Thank you. I was also fortunate to have a wonderful support system in the English Department. Professors Jay Clayton and Mark Schoenfield, who both served as departmental chairs during my time here, have helped in a variety of capacities. Additionally, the three Directors of Graduate Studies who served from 2006 to the present—Lynn Enterline, Kathryn Schwarz, and Dana Nelson—have also been instrumental in my work here. I would especially like to thank Professor Schwarz for her unwavering support of my decision to pursue joint degrees, and for her help in securing (and organizing) my final years of funding. Finally, to the one other person in my cohort, Elizabeth Covington, thank you so much for your words of encouragement. We made it! iii As you can probably tell by the recognizable names, I had an amazing dissertation committee: a poet, a philosopher, a literary theorist, and an oral history expert—all of the very best aspects of academia converged in this dynamic group of scholars. Thanks to Kate Daniels, Lucius T. (Lou) Outlaw, Jr., Hortense J. Spillers, and Ifeoma C.K. Nwankwo for all their help on this project; each one of you contributed so much to this dissertation. Kate Daniels, you were most helpful in your feedback on my chapter about Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard. Professor Outlaw, talking with you about this project during the revision stage really helped me refine and better articulate my arguments. Professor Spillers, you were such an encouraging reader, such an astute editor, and your insight and foresight as a co-chair was always spot-on. Together with my other co-chair, Ifeoma Nwankwo, your instincts in guiding me as I drafted and re-drafted this dissertation made this project possible—it really could not have happened without you. And finally, to Ifeoma: there are no words than can capture your wonder, your wisdom, your gifts, and all the things you’ve taught me. I can only thank you by continuing this journey with the same kind of astute determination you’ve modeled for me for so many years. I strive to live up to the standard of hard work, innovation, and integrity that you’ve set in both instruction and example. I really just want to someday make you proud. In the “Acknowledgements” section of a dissertation about mothers, I would be remiss not to mention my own mother, Joan Birdsong Harris, who has passed on to me all of my best qualities. If I have ever done anything of merit in this life, it is because of this woman. Thank you for everything. Thanks also to my big sister Angela, who is my oldest friend. You’ve looked out for me my whole life. I love you, girl. And to my little brother iv Roy, who always makes me feel important (especially when he recently dyed his hair blond—imitation is the best form of flattery, no?). I love you too little man. Thanks too to my godmother, Krista Watkins, for giving me my name. It is the greatest gift I have ever received, and I bless you every time I say it. And when you say “I love you”—goodness! I feel your love, and I know that I am so lucky to know you. To the rest of the family: my aunts and uncles, cousins, play cousins, and godsiblings, I love you guys too—you know who you are. In addition to the “fam,” I could not have made it this far without the amazing friends I’ve met at various times in my life, who have stuck around and held me down. Selena Sanderfer, Tiffany Pulley, and Tiffany Austin, you each have such a special place in my heart. Selena, you have always been and will always be my role model. T. Pulley! What would Fisk have been without you? And to Tiffany A., thanks for providing a getaway for me at the perfect time. I’m not sure if you know this, but I put the final touches on my defense draft while sitting in your office in February 2012. You are the kind of writer who inspires everyone in her presence—you’re an amazing woman. And where would I be without the Rainbow Tribe? To Nikki Spigner, Deborah Lilton, Donika Ross, and Nafissa “Fizzy” Thompson-Spires, I love you each and all. Thank you for yoga, vegan cuisine, sesame noodles, karaoke while washing the dishes, thrifting, talking, laughing, arguing, ‘80’s music, sitcom marathons—“thank you for being [my] friend[s]!” In a 2012 kind of world, I’m glad I’ve got my girls. To my very best friend, Larrysha Jones: From the moment I went in for my evening shift at the Bellevue Applebee’s in November 2002, and someone (I think it was “Slim”) said: “Hey, there’s a new girl here who acts just like you!”, you’ve been my best v friend—not just in terms of the amount of fun we have together, but the quality of your friendship is priceless. I can honestly say that your love, support, understanding, and humor have created so many safe spaces for me. And you always know when to say the right thing. You have literally made me laugh through my tears (remember the Jay-Z quote? “Haters want me clapped in chrome….”). You’re a friend of “top flight” quality. Of the world, Larrysha. Not just of the city, of the world! Thank you Rashaud, for always supporting and motivating me, and for setting such a wonderful example of patience, hard work, and integrity. You always know what to say to get me to get up and try again. You have always encouraged me to be the best version of myself while, at the same time, celebrating me for who I am. You are such a gift. We share such a special love. I hope I’ve made it clear by describing all of the wonderful people He’s brought into my life how good God has been to me. I’ve been so very, very blessed over these past six years, even with all the storms—literal and figurative. How can I thank Him? If I had ten thousand tongues, I couldn’t praise Him enough; if I had 10,000 more pages, I couldn’t tell it all. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 1 Introduction 1 Matrilineal Inscription and Trauma 6 Blackness, Diaspora, Identity Formation, and Racial Difference 16 Mother-Daughter Relationships in Past and Present Scholarship 23 Chapter Breakdown 35 II. THE DUAL DANCE: TRAUMATIC INSCRIPTION, CORPOREAL MOVEMENT, AND MATERNAL MIRRORING IN PAULE MARSHALL’S BROWN GIRL, BROWNSTONES (1959) 41 Introduction 41 The Mother’s Movement (Or Lack Thereof) 46 The Anatomy of a Daughter’s Defiance 54 A Changing Same: Silla, Selina, and the Mirroring of the Mother 63 More Close Calls: Clive and Selina, Movement and Stasis 68 Cloakrooms and Crossings: Final Scenes and Images 74 Conclusion: On to Other Mothers 77 III. BREAKING CANE, BREAKING CHAINS: INSCRIPTION, REENACTMENT, AND RITUALS OF DIFFERENCE IN EDWIDGE DANTICAT’S BREATH, EYES, MEMORY (1994) 80 Introduction 80 The Readying of Reinscription and a Mother’s Reenactment 85 Another Readying: (Re)Defining Maternal and Filial Roles 90 The Breaking: Corporeal Repercussions 101 The Mothers in Haiti: Confrontation and (The Beginnings Of) Healing 106 Conclusion: Rituals of Difference and Redefining Matrilineal Inscription 114 vii IV. “MEMORIES THAT ARE(N’T) MINE”: MATRILINEAL CULTURAL TRAUMA, SILENCE, AND DEFIANT REINSCRIPTION IN NATASHA TRETHEWEY’S NATIVE GUARD (2006) 119 Introduction 119 The Condition of the Mother(‘s)land: Extrinsic Inscription 126 The Condition of the Mother and the Child that Follows: Matrilineal Inscription 134 Native Work 142 Conclusion: Finding Her True-True Name 149 V. WHEN MAMA’S WHITE: TRANS-RACIAL MATERNALITY AND FAILED MATRILINEAL INSCRIPTION IN EMILY RABOTEAU’S THE PROFESSOR’S DAUGHTER: A NOVEL (2005) 153 Introduction 153 M(Br)other, Where Art Thou?: Usurped Matrlineality in The Professor’s Daughter 159 Othermothers and Mythmaking 168 Sins of the Daughter 179 Recreating Coalitions: Lessons to Learn 188 Conclusion: More Lessons to Learn 193 CODA: CONCLUDING THOUGHTS 196 REFERENCES 206 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION I.