The African Presence and Influence on the Cultures of the Americas

192 Pages·2010·1.022 MB·English

by  Brenda M. Greene

The African Presence and Influence
on the Cultures of the Americas

The African Presence and Influence
on the Cultures of the Americas
Edited by
Brenda M. Greene
The African Presence and Influence on the Cultures of the Americas,
Edited by Brenda M. Greene
This book first published 2010
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2010 by Brenda M. Greene and contributors
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN (10): 1-4438-2216-7, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-2216-9
Dedicated to the writers, scholars and cultural historians
who persist in remembering our past,
in documenting our present
and in charting the direction for our future.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword....................................................................................................ix
Daisy C. DeFilippis
Introduction..............................................................................................xiii
Brenda M. Greene
Part I: Multilayered Paths of Influence:
The Presence of Nicolás Guillén in the Literature of the Americas.....1
Alfonso Garcia-Osuna
Chapter One.................................................................................................5
Nicolás Guillén: Open Social Concern and Subtle Artistic Mastery
Keith Ellis
Chapter Two..............................................................................................19
Bringing Nicolás Guillén to the United States: Hughes and Carruthers’
Transnational Performance of the Americas
Katarzyna Jakubiak
Chapter Three............................................................................................25
The United States in the Poetry of Guillén
Ana Maria Hernandez
Part II: The African Presence in the Literary Voices
of the Americas........................................................................................33
Brenda M. Greene
Chapter Four..............................................................................................37
Subjugation and the Dark-Skinned Black Female in Gwendolyn Brooks’
Maud Martha and Nella Larsen’s Quicksand
Natasha Baker
Chapter Five..............................................................................................45
Different ‘Ways of Seeing’: Caribbean Appropriations of The Tempest
Jennifer Sparrow
viii Table of Contents
Chapter Six................................................................................................55
African-American Sources for Senghor’s Vision of Paradise
Janice Spleth
Part III: The Impact of Africa on the Cultures of the Americas.........67
Brenda M. Greene
Chapter Seven............................................................................................71
A Daughter’s Geography: The Poetics of Diaspora
Farah Jasmine Griffin
Chapter Eight.............................................................................................91
The Circle of Our Dance to Victor Rosa
Victor Hernandez Cruz
Chapter Nine............................................................................................101
Critical Mass: A Theoretical Framework for Cultural Fusion
Weldon C. Williams III
Part IV: Griots of the New World........................................................121
Brenda M. Greene and Joyce Harte
Chapter Ten.............................................................................................125
The Influence of African Music in the Americas
Raymond Torres-Santos
Chapter Eleven........................................................................................143
From Africa to the Caribbean: Saracca and Nation in Grenada
and Carriacou
Merle Collins
Chapter Twelve.......................................................................................157
The Hip Hop Artist: Reinterpretation of an African Tradition
Maria Delongoria and Augustine Okereke
Contributors.............................................................................................169
Index........................................................................................................173
FOREWORD
A LEGACY OF STRENGTH AND JOY:
THE AFRICAN PRESENCE AND INFLUENCE
ON THE CULTURES OF THE AMERICAS
DAISY COCCO DE FILIPPIS,
PRESIDENT,NAUGATUCK VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
And when the sun rises we are afraid
it might not remain
when the sun sets we are afraid
it might not rise in the morning
…………………………….
when we are loved we are afraid love will vanish
when we are alone we are afraid
love will never return
and when we speak we
are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid.
So it is better to speak
Remembering
we were never meant to survive.
—Audre Lorde, “A Litany for Survival”1
As I look back on the collaborative work that took place to support this
project, I find joy and beauty and strength in the collected essays for the
proceedings of what was a truly remarkable exercise in intercampus
collaboration. It was also a moment of thoughtful consideration and
reflection on the need to create a CUNY-wide project that would reflect
intellectual discourse on our campuses about the significance of Africa in