Asylum Speakers: Caribbean Refugees and Testimonial Discourse

321 Pages·2010·2.267 MB·English

by  April Shemak

Asylum Speakers
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Asylum Speakers
Caribbean Refugees and Testimonial Discourse
april shemak
Fordham University Press
new york 2011
© 2011 Fordham University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shemak, April.
Asylum speakers : Caribbean refugees and testimonial discourse / April
Shemak. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8232-3355-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8232-3357-1 (ebook)
1. American literature—Caribbean American authors—History and
criticism. 2. Refugees in literature. 3. Emigration and immigration in
literature. 4. Refugees—Caribbean Area—Social conditions. 5. Refugees—
United States—Social conditions. I. Title.
PS153.C27S54 2011
810.9'3526914—dc22
2010033990
Printed in the United States of America
13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1
First edition
A book in the American Literatures Initiative (ALI), a collaborative
publishing project of NYU Press, Fordham University Press, Rutgers
University Press, Temple University Press, and the University of Virginia
Press. The Initiative is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
For more information, please visit www.americanliteratures.org.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: The Poetics of Hospitality: Refugee,
Migrant, Testimony 1
1 Inter-dictions and Limbo Citizens: Haitian Boat
Refugee Narratives 45
2 False Witnessing: U.S. Coast Guard Photography of
Haitian Boat Refugees 88
3 Silent Subjectivities: Testimony and Haitian Labor
Refugees 131
4 Corporate Containment: Refugee Seafarers on the Seas
of Transnational Labor 177
5 Crossing the Threshold of Asylum: Dominican and
Cuban (Post)Refugee Narratives 213
Epilogue: Diverted Testimonies: New World Refugees
in the Twenty-First Century 241
Notes 251
Bibliography 287
Index 304
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Acknowledgments
This project evolved from the ideas that I began exploring in my disser-
tation and I am thankful for the numerous people who have supported
me as I shaped them into a book. My dissertation advisor Sangeeta Ray
provided endless guidance and encouragement throughout my graduate
career and beyond. I am most grateful to her for imparting her knowl-
edge and for modeling intellectual courage that continues to sustain me.
Others at the University of Maryland who helped to create an intellectu-
ally dynamic atmosphere include Merle Collins, who provided me with a
foundation in Caribbean literature and invaluable knowledge and expe-
rience during a winter session in Grenada. My thanks to Stephan Palmié
who first turned my attention to the congressional hearings on Haitian
sugarcane cutters in the Dominican Republic (the focus of chapter 3).
Ralph Bauer and Zita Nunes also offered helpful guidance and commen-
tary on my dissertation.
I am grateful for all of my colleagues in the English Department at
Sam Houston State University for providing me with a kind and sup-
portive atmosphere in which to work. Thanks to Kim Bell, Tracy Bilsing,
Paul Child, Linda Cook, Bob Donahoo, Julie Hall, Scott Kaukonen, Car-
roll Ferguson Nardone, and Gene Young for their enthusiasm, advice,
and continued interest in the book. Lee Bebout and Drew Lopenzina
provided helpful comments on chapter drafts. Thanks to the chair of
the English department, Helena Halmari, for her professional guidance
and advocacy. During his time as department chair, Bill Bridges was an
viii / acknowledgments
encouraging mentor and lent his scrupulous editing skills to my work.
I also appreciate Shirin Edwin, Bernadette Pruitt, and Sujey Vega, col-
leagues whose shared interests allow for interdisciplinary engagement at
SHSU.
Sam Houston State University supported my work with three faculty
grants. A 2006 Faculty Research Grant enabled me to complete research
at the U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office in Washington, DC. Two En-
hancement Grants for Professional Development allowed me to focus my
attention on researching and writing during two summers. My thanks to
the College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Dean John de Castro and
to the SHSU Office of Research and Special Programs for their support.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Helen Tartar at Fordham University Press
for supporting this project and shepherding it through the review pro-
cess. Thanks also to the two reviewers whose astute, meticulous com-
ments on the manuscript pushed my arguments about refugees and tes-
timony further, resulting, I believe, in a stronger book. Thomas Lay, Eric
Newman, Kathleen O’Brien-Nicholson, Tim Roberts, and Katie Sweeney
ushered me through the production process. Lisa Nowak Jerry’s careful
and thorough copyediting helped make this into a more readable book.
It is with deepest sincerity that I thank Edouard Duval-Carrié for gra-
ciously agreeing to allow me to use his spectacular artwork on the cover.
A portion of chapter 3 was previously published as “Re-membering His-
paniola: Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones” in Modern Fiction
Studies 48, no. 1 (2002) and I thank Johns Hopkins University Press for
permission to reprint.
The friends and colleagues I have come to know in postcolonial, eth-
nic, and Caribbean studies have enriched my work and experiences as a
scholar. Liz DeLoughrey has offered excellent advice and information.
Her work on oceanic voyaging and Atlantic discourses has proven vital
for my understanding of boat refugees. I was fortunate to participate in
an American Studies Association panel on refugee cultural production
with Crystal Parikh, Nina Ha, and Zenia Kish. Their work and insights
on the ideas of refugeeness have been most helpful as I finished this
book, and my thanks to Nina for reading and commenting on portions
of it. Sandra Paquet has been part of a vanguard of Caribbean literary
scholars, paving the way for those of us now working in the field. I most
appreciate her kind support and encouragement of my work.
I could not have completed this project without the group of friends
who have provided unflagging support and encouragement: Gia Hare-
wood, Randi Gray Kristensen, Bob Mondello, Carlos Schröder, Tanya
acknowledgments / ix
Shields, Belinda Wallace and the rest of the ñoquis crew. Our DC “ñoquis
night” tradition taught me something about hospitality and friendship
that has sustained me in the quiet days of researching and writing this
book in Texas. A special thanks to Tanya for reading and commenting
on several chapters in their various stages and for always reminding me
that I was capable of writing this book. Thanks to Randi for providing
me with a place to stay on trips back to DC. My thanks also to Kimberly
Brown for extending her welcome—institutional and otherwise—when I
arrived in Texas. Although we now live half a world apart, Mark Cenite
has been invaluable friend over the years. His encouragement of me to
pursue graduate studies while we were both at UW-Madison led me to
the path I am on today.
I am thankful for the love, support, and encouragement of my family,
especially my parents, Richard and Beverley. Andy, Sharon, Kevin, Tina,
Katy, Brianna, Coty, Angie, Rose, and Kevin C. enrich my life with their
care, good cheer, and laughter. I am most grateful to Stan for patiently
understanding the nature of academic work and for taking our son on
countless walks in the park to give me time to think and write. To Gabe,
whose mom I became as this project began to take shape. Your life and it
have converged in unexpected ways. While this book has taken precious
time away from you, I hope one day you will realize that it has allowed
me to think about and appreciate home and belonging more deeply.
Finally, this book is dedicated to the lives lost in the January 2010
Haitian earthquake and to those survivors who find themselves in need
of refuge.