Black Women, Writing and Identity: Migrations of the Subject

244 Pages·1994·9.601 MB·English

by  Carole Boyce Davies

Black Women,
Writing and Identity
Migrations of the subject
Carole Boyce Davies

BLACK WOMEN, WRITING AND
IDENTITY
Black Women, Writing and Identity is an exciting new work by one of
the most imaginative and acute writers around. The book explores
a complex and fascinating set of interrelated issues, establishing the
significance of such wide-ranging subjects as:
• re-mapping, re-naming and cultural crossings
• migration and the re-negotiation of identities
• the discourse of uprisings and constructions of Empire
• African women’s writing and resistance to domination
• creativity, theorizing and critical relationality
• gender, language and the politics of location
Carole Boyce Davies is at the forefront of attempts to broaden the
discourse surrounding the representation of and by Black women
and women of colour. Black Women, Writing and Identity represents
an extraordinary achievement in this field, taking our understand¬
ing of identity, location and representation to new levels.
Carole Boyce Davies is Associate Professor in the Departments
of English, African and African-American Studies and Compara¬
tive Literature at the State University of New York at
Binghamton.
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BLACK WOMEN,
WRITING
AND IDENTITY
Migrations of the subject
Carole Boyce Davies
London and New York
First published 1994
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
(E) 1994 Carole Boyce Davies
Typeset in Bembo by
Florencetype Ltd, Kewstoke, Avon
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Clays Ltd, St. Ives plc
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Davies, Carole Boyce.
Black women, writing and identity : migrations of the subject /
Carole Boyce Davies,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. American literature - Afro-American authors - History and
criticism. 2. English literature - Foreign countries - History and
criticism. 3. American literature - Women authors — History and
criticism. 4. English literature - Black authors — History and
criticism. 5. English literature — Women authors — History and
criticism. 6. Identity (Psychology) in literature. 7. Afro-
Americans in literature. 8. Authorship - Sex differences.
9. Blacks in literature. 10. Women and literature. 1. Title.
PS153.N5D32 1994
810.9' 9287' 08996073 - dc20 93-44335
ISBN 0-415-10086-0 (hbk)
0-415-10087-9 (pbk)
For my mother, Mary Boyce Joseph,
my first teacher,
who taught me all that she knew
and then gave me the space to explore the world.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2019 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.0rg/details/blackwomenwritinOOOOdavi
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments viii
1 INTRODUCTION; MIGRATORY SUBJECTIVITIES
Black women’s writing and the re-negotiation of
identities 1
\ 2 NEGOTIATING THEORIES OR “GOING A
PIECE OF THE WAY WITH THEM” 38
3 DECONSTRUCTING AFRICAN FEMALE
SUBJECTIVITIES
Anowa’s borderlands 59
4 FROM “POST-COLONIALITY” TO UPRISING
'' TEXTUALITIES
Black women writing the critique of Empire 80
5 WRITING HOME
Gender, heritage and identity in Afro-Caribbean
women’s writing in the US 113
6 MOBILITY, EMBODIMENT AND RESISTANCE
Black women’s writing in the US ^130
, 7 OTHER TONGUES
Gender, language, sexuality and the politics of location 152
Notes 166
Bibliography 198
Index 223
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A number of friends, colleagues, students and relatives offered
support, love, words of encouragement and interest in the develop¬
ment of my ideas, during the tedious days of writing this manu¬
script. I would like to identify the wonderful students I have
worked with over the years at Binghamton, who have always
supported me as I have supported them. In particular those in my
various Black Women’s Writing classes who have participated in a
variety of transformations of knowledge and consciousness, among
them, Vinnie Cuccia, Donnette Dunbar, Julia Fernandez, Nicole
Gaskins, Joel Haynes, Thekla Holder, Marie Soto and others too
numerous to mention. Leo Wilton, Francisco Reyes, constantly
made sure I was on track by constantly asking the “how is the book
coming?” question. Erica Braxton, Kim Hall, Siga Jagne, Gladys
Jimenez-Munoz, Greg Thomas were wonderful graduate students
and friends who often offered helpful references and read or
listened to various bits and pieces of this work. A number of
colleagues especially Elsa Barkley Brown, Deborah Britzman,
Marilynn Desmond, Monica Jardine, Velma Pollard, Juanita
Ramos-Diaz and Kelvin Santiago-Valles read, listened to and/or
offered advice on various versions of chapters at different times.
Special thanks to Susan Strehle who read the final manuscript and
offered important affirming and helpful words. Arlene Norwalk of
the English Department, and Lisa Fegley-Schmidt and Jim Wolff of
Binghamton University, helped with word-processing advice at
critical moments. My high-school friend, Sheila Henry, has always
been there to listen and sometimes seems to enjoy my journeys and
their stories as much as I do. Above all, she has helped me to see the
need for balance and I thank her for that. Achel
The NEH-Brazil, 1992 group, particularly Chuck Martin,
viii