Precarious Passages: The Diasporic Imagination in Contemporary Black Anglophone Fiction

345 Pages·2017·1.738 MB·English

by  Tuire Valkeakari

Precarious Passages
University Press of Florida
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola

P r e c a r i o u s
Pa s s a g e s
b
The Diasporic Imagination in
Contemporary Black Anglophone Fiction
Tuire Valkeakari
University Press of Florida
Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton
Pensacola · Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers · Sarasota
Copyright 2017 by Tuire Valkeakari
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
This book may be available in an electronic edition.
22 21 20 19 18 17 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Valkeakari, Tuire, author.
Title: Precarious passages : the diasporic imagination in contemporary Black 
Anglophone fiction / Tuire Valkeakari.
Description: Gainesville : University Press of Florida, 2016. | Includes 
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016049594 | ISBN 9780813062471 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: English literature—Black authors—History and criticism. | 
Caribbean literature—Black authors—History and criticism. | American 
fiction—Black authors—History and criticism. | Blacks in literature.
Classification: LCC PR120.B55 V35 2016 | DDC 820.9/896041—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016049594
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University System
of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast
University, Florida International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida,
University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of
South Florida, and University of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://upress.ufl.edu
Contents
Note on Usage vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Passages to (Be)Longing 1
1. An African American Journey to Black Diasporic Consciousness:
Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage 33
2. Early Black Atlantic Crossings: Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes 62
3. War, Trauma, Displacement, Diaspora: Toni Morrison’s and Caryl
Phillips’s African American Soldiers 99
4. Journeys to the Heart of Empire after World War II: George Lamming’s,
Caryl Phillips’s, and Andrea Levy’s Caribbean Migrants 131
5. Roots, Routes, and Returns: Caryl Phillips’s, Cecil Foster’s, and Edwidge
Danticat’s Caribbean Returnees 177
Epilogue 222
Notes 229
Bibliography 291
Index 321

Note on Usage
This book, which discusses the diasporic imagination in post–World War
II and contemporary black Anglophone fiction, uses the terms “African di-
aspora” and “black diaspora” interchangeably. Some academics pick one of
these options and stick to it, choosing either the former to stress the impor-
tance of the African continent for their interpretive frameworks or the latter
to highlight “blackness” as a sociocultural construct developed in the Western
world. Although this distinction can be very useful, I do not find it systemati-
cally sustainable in this book. The two meanings overlap frequently both in
the materials that I examine and in my discussions of them; hence my prefer-
ence for interchangeability.
English vocabulary about “blackness” and black ethnicities is not the same
everywhere; terminological preferences vary from region to region and from
individual to individual. For example, should one use “African Caribbean”
or “Afro-Caribbean” as a synonym for “black Caribbean”? As I was writing
this book, I started out with “Afro-Caribbean,” which US scholars employ
frequently, but I ran into problems when I began to think about black Ca-
ribbean immigrants to Canada. “Afro-Caribbean” seems antiquated in Cana-
dian contexts—as does “Afro-Canadian,” for that matter. In studies of British
culture and society, “Afro-Caribbean,” “African Caribbean,” “West Indian” (a
designation that has not died, contrary to what one might have expected),
and the more comprehensive “black British” are all in use. In transnation-
ally oriented academic texts, “African Caribbean,” following the example of
“[US] African American,” is an increasingly common choice. I recognize the
possible ambiguity inherent in “African Caribbean” (its suggestion, to some,
of “African-born”—the same problem that many initially had with “African
American,” before the term achieved its current standard status), as well as
the difficulty caused by the different terminological preferences in different
regional and national contexts. However, since I could not reasonably opt for
viii · Note on Usage
“Afro-Caribbean” in some chapters and for “African Caribbean” in others, I
chose one variant, the latter, while also frequently employing “black Carib-
bean” and, at times, “West Indian.”
Whenever the term “West Indian” appears in this study, it means the same
as “Anglophone Caribbean.” In chapter 4—more specifically, in the discus-
sion of collective West Indian identity formation among Caribbean individu-
als and groups living in Britain during and after World War II—the adjective
“West Indian” has, for contextual reasons, at times been a more natural choice
than the somewhat unwieldy “Anglophone African Caribbean” or “Anglo-
phone black Caribbean,” in part because the chapter includes a reference to
the short-lived political entity known as the West Indies Federation.
I use the word “black” rather often (a practice that resonates particularly
well with British usage) because it is a practical term in comparative con-
texts—for example, in discussing black British, black Caribbean, black US,
and black Canadian writing in the same breath. Also, since there is no termi-
nological alternative for the socially and culturally constructed abstraction ar-
ticulated by the noun “blackness,” it hardly makes sense to shy away from the
adjective either. I should add that particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, “black,”
in addition to meaning “of African descent,” was also used by Britons to refer
to various Asian immigrant groups living in Britain. This usage can still be
found in many theorizations of “black British literature,” especially in studies
that focus on the legacies of Empire and highlight interracial solidarity among
the decolonized. However, although this book is attuned to the intersection-
ality of postcolonial and diaspora studies, I consistently use “black” synony-
mously with “of African descent,” regardless of national context.
Ethnoracial terminologies are constantly changing and evolving, both na-
tionally and transnationally. Choices that seem appropriate today may appear
outdated tomorrow. However, regardless of such provisionalities of language
use, this book places a set of Anglophone novels originating in various African
diasporic contexts in dialogue with each other. In so doing, it seeks to make a
contribution to scholarly discussions about postwar and contemporary liter-
ary representations of black diasporic identity formation.
Acknowledgments
I am deeply indebted to the Department of African American Studies and
the Program in American Studies at Yale University for providing me with
the intellectual inspiration, instruction, and resources that made this project
possible. I had the good fortune to be mentored by two extraordinary schol-
ars, Robert Stepto and Hazel Carby. I am extremely grateful for their expert
guidance and their wonderful generosity and kindness. My heartfelt thanks
are also due to Elizabeth Alexander, Paul Gilroy, and Matthew Jacobson. The
opportunity to train under them was a transformative experience that will
always stay with me.
I am, moreover, truly thankful to the Department of American Studies at
Brown University, especially Robert G. Lee, then chair, for allowing me to
use Brown’s excellent libraries as a visiting scholar in fall 2012. I benefited im-
mensely not only from the library privileges but also from conversations with
fellow scholars in literary studies and beyond. Beverly Haviland, for example,
did me a wonderful favor by discussing trauma theory with me from an angle
I had not considered previously.
I thank warmly all my colleagues in my current academic home, the Depart-
ment of English at Providence College, for camaraderie, intellectual sparring,
and good cheer. Friends in American Studies (especially Jeff Johnson, Peggy
Reid, Margaret Manchester, Keith Morton, and Eric Bennett), History, Black
Studies, Global Studies, and Women’s Studies have graciously included me in
a broader, interdisciplinary community of passionate and dedicated teacher-
scholars. To single out just a few particularly enthusiastic and knowledgeable
fellow travelers, at various stages of this project Bruce Graver, John Scanlan,
Adrian Weimer, Ted Andrews, Bob Reeder, and Elliott Stevens kindly read
portions of this work or took the time to discuss the changing world of aca-
demic writing and publishing with me. Jamie Warren, whom I met when he
was a visiting scholar at Brown, selflessly did the same.