Compositions in Black and Brown: Manifestations of Afro-Latinity in US Black Latino/a Literary ...

227 Pages·2016·1.17 MB·English

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Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School
5-2014
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Janelle Chevon Coleman
University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss
Part of the African American Studies Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Latin American Literature
Commons, and the Other Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons
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Coleman, Janelle Chevon, "Compositions in Black and Brown: Manifestations of Afro-Latinity in U.S. Black
Latino/a Literary Discourse. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2014.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2683
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee
Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized
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[email protected].
To the Graduate Council:
I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Janelle Chevon Coleman entitled
"Compositions in Black and Brown: Manifestations of Afro-Latinity in U.S. Black Latino/a Literary
Discourse." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content
and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Modern Foreign Languages.
Dawn A. Duke, Major Professor
We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance:
Millie Gimmel, Luis Cano, Bertin Louis
Accepted for the Council:
Carolyn R. Hodges
Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
(Original signatures are on file with official student records.)
Compositions in Black and Brown: Manifestations of Afro-Latinity in U.S. Black Latino/a
Literary Discourse

A Dissertation Presented for the
Doctor of Philosophy
Degree
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Janelle Chevon Coleman
May 2014
Copyright © 2014 Janelle Chevon Coleman
All rights reserved.

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DEDICATION

To my Heavenly Father and my Lord Jesus Christ
To my loving mother, Ms. Janet Houston
To my late grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Claude L. and Olivet F. Houston
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for
strengthening me throughout this journey. If there is anything I have learned in this process, I
have come to realize that “His strength is made perfect in weakness.” I am eternally grateful not
only for Your salvation, but also for Your grace to continue despite the many times I wanted to
give up. Thank You, Lord, for all that You are! This accomplishment would not have been
possible without You!
Secondly, I would like to thank my family. Your prayers, your words of encouragement
and your willingness to listen during my most frustrating moments have been invaluable to me.
Thank you, Mom, Dad, my sisters Denise and Trynia, my brother Anthony, and my stepfather
Aaron Pillow, for pushing me to press on when I wanted to quit. I love you guys! I would also
like to thank my late maternal grandparents, Mr. Claude Houston and Mrs. Olivet Houston, for
instilling in me a hunger and love for knowledge. Although you are not here to see me graduate,
I know that you are smiling down from Heaven. Thanks for the sacrifices you made to get me
where I am today.
I am also grateful for the wonderful guidance I received from my dissertation committee.
I would like to thank my director, Dr. Dawn Duke, for her wisdom and support during the
writing process. Your willingness to invest time in my work and in my training as a scholar has
challenged me to “pay it forward” to other minority students seeking the opportunities that I have
had. You are an amazing mentor! I would also like to thank Dr. Luis Cano and Dr. Millie
Gimmel for not only being superb mentors throughout my graduate career, but also great friends.
I will always cherish our conversations, and will look forward to keeping in touch with you in
the future. Dr. Bertin Louis, I am grateful to you for your expertise during this process. Although
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I have only known you for a short time, you have been an invaluable resource and a wonderful
advisor.
This dissertation also would not have been possible if it were not for the support of other
professors at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. To Dr. Nuria Cruz-Cámara, Dr. Óscar
Rivera Rodas, Dr. Bryant Creel, Dr. Michael Handelsman, Dr. Álvaro Ayo, Dr. Eurídice Silva
and Dr. Greg Kaplan, thanks for always encouraging me to ask questions and to think “outside
the box.” To Dr. Dolly Young, I am appreciative for the genuine care you have shown toward me
throughout my graduate career. Your kindness and empathy towards students are characteristics I
wish to emulate in my own teaching. To Dr. Patricia Davis-Wiley, thanks for your words of
encouragement, expertise, and all the wonderful meals. In this last year, you have been a
wonderful colleague and a fabulous friend.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Graduate School and the Southern
Regional Education Board for their financial and emotional support throughout this process. The
care and the knowledge I have received from both Dr. Carolyn Hodges and my SREB family
have not only made the road to the doctorate a little less rocky, but they have reminded me of the
importance of investing in others. Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity!
Finally, I would like to thank all of my wonderful friends who have prayed with me, cried
with me, laughed with me and celebrated with me. This achievement would not have been
possible without you. To my “mosqueteros” Andy Ray and Dr. Lisa Parker, your sense of humor
and positivity have constantly lifted me up in some of my darkest moments. Thanks for always
having faith in me when I did not have faith in myself. To my writing buddy and dear friend
Cedelle Niles, thanks for being the best motivational speaker ever! Looking forward to seeing
you walk across that stage sometime soon! To my prayer team, Gary and Rhonda Peacock,
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Pastors Steve and Jo McCullar, Carol Hanna, Sunshine Stokely, Dr. Lisa Parker, Dr. Sarah
Fischer, Chuck and Laurie Lester, Melanie and Julian Reese, the students of Intervarsity
Graduate Student Fellowship and my Cornerstone Church of God family, thank you for your
countless prayers. I love each and every one of you.
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ABSTRACT

Through an analysis of the literature by Afro-Latino writers Junot Díaz, Evelio Grillo,
Piri Thomas and Loida Maritza Pérez, my dissertation shows how the multifaceted nature of
Afro-Latino/a identity and culture is reflected in the works of three novels written by Spanish-
speaking authors who self-identify as Afro-Caribbean Americans. I use criticism from such
scholars as Juan Flores, Miriam Jiménez, and Jorge Gracia to show that U.S. Afro-Latinity is not
representative of an essence, but rather of a set of common manifestations resulting from
conflicting concepts of race and ethnicity. I assert that U.S. Black Latinos not only possess a
unique history and culture that has its roots in both Latin American and African cultures, but also
that they are currently constructing their own definition of selfhood that transcends the fixed
racial labels that American society has created over time.
In Chapter One, I discuss the historical realities that have created the concepts of race in
both the United States and in Latin America. Chapter Two addresses Junot Díaz’s use of
language play as a means to resist colonialist discourse about race in The Brief Wondrous Life of
Oscar Wao (2007). In Chapter Three, I look at how Evelio Grillo and Piri Thomas’
appropriations of blackness in their autobiographies Black Cuban, Black American (2000) and
Down These Mean Streets (1967) demonstrate a tendency toward exclusion of those not
belonging. This is evident in both authors’ overt rejection of White supremacy. Finally, in
Chapter Four, I discuss the concept of home in Geographies of Home (2000) by Loida Maritza
Pérez. Through an analysis of the main female characters of the novel, I assert that Afro-Latina
women, by virtue of their racial heritages and the implications of their gender, often struggle to
forge their own identity due to the tension between the societal expectations of their homelands
in Latin America and the societal expectations of Black women in the United States.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION: WRITING ON THE MARGINS: RECONCEPTUALIZING RACE IN U.S. AFRO-
LATINO/A LITERARY DISCOURSE ....................................................................................................1
Problem ....................................................................................................................................1
Justification of Topic ................................................................................................................5
Historical Context of the Present Study ...................................................................................7
Theoretical Considerations .....................................................................................................22
Towards the Development of an Afro-Latino/a Literary Discourse .......................................26
Organization of the Dissertation .............................................................................................30
CHAPTER ONE — AFRO-LATINITY IN THE MAKING: A HISTORY OF BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS IN
LATIN AMERICA AND THE UNITED STATES ..................................................................................36
Development of the Concept of Race in Latin America 1700-1930 ......................................38
Black Consciousness in Latin America ..................................................................................46
History of Racialization in the United States 1700-1950 .......................................................51
Where Are We Now?: Representation of Black America After the Civil Rights
Movement ...............................................................................................................................59
Latinos or African Americans?: the Afro-Latino/a Place in Historical and Modern
Discussions on Race ...............................................................................................................62
CHAPTER TWO — CUANDO EL FUKÚ ERES TÚ: INTERSECTIONS OF LANGUAGE AND RACE IN
JUNOT DÍAZ’S THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO (2007) .............................................67
Subjecting Silences: Language Play as a Means of Resistance .............................................72
Language in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ...........................................................77
Llenando los “gaps”: Critical Reception of the Novel ...........................................................80
Reversing the Curse: Language and the African Presence in Oscar Wao .............................91
Conclusions: The Case for Afro-Latinity .............................................................................100
CHAPTER THREE— IS MY BLACK BROWN ENOUGH FOR YOU? : A CRITICAL STUDY OF RACE
AND AFRO-LATINO/A IDENTITY FORMATION IN DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS (1967) AND BLACK
CUBAN, BLACK AMERICAN (2000) ................................................................................................105
Introduction ..........................................................................................................................105
Towards a Theory for Understanding Afro-Latino/a Life Writings .....................................109
Historical and Cultural Context of the Autobiographies ......................................................114
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