Thiefing Sugar: Eroticism Between Women in Caribbean Literature

281 Pages·2010·23.765 MB·English

by  Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley

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EROTICISM BETWEEN \VO!v1EN IN ~RIBBI:AN llfERATU RE
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Eroticism between Women in Caribbean Literature
Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley
Duke University Press
Durham and London
2010
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© 2010 Duke University Press
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper@)
Typeset in Tnnitc
by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
Library of Congress
Cataloging 111 Publ,canon Data
appear on the last printed page
of this book.
For my very beloved great-grandmother,
Artis Phillips Stapler,
who left Good Water, Alabama,
so that she would never have to be a farmer's wife
but took her landscape knowledge to Birmingham,
where she went into the forests to find healing roots
when her family needed them
And with honor and respect for
Dr. Barbara Christian
VeVe
Dr. A. Clark,
without whom it would not have been possible
Contents
Acknowledgments tx
Introduction: The Spring of Her Look
1
"Ro se 1s my mama, stanfaste ts my papa":
1.
Hybnd Landscapes and Sexualities m
Sunnamese Women's Oral Poetry 29
Darkenmg the Lily:
2
The Eroncs of Self-Making m
El10t Bliss's Luminous Isle 68
3 Blue Countries, Dark Beauty:
Opaque Desires in the Poetry oflda Faubert
102
4. At the River of Washerwomen:
Work, Water, and Sexual Fluidity in
Mayotte Capena's I Am a Marnnican Woman 136
5. Transformmg Sugar, Transitioning Revolution:
Male Womanhood and Lesbian Eroticism in
Michelle Cliff's No Telephone to Heaven 169
6. Breaking Hard against Things:
Crossing between Sexual and Revolutionary Politics
in Dionne Brand's No Lan3ua3e Is Neutral
201
Notes 233
Bibliography 257
Index 269
Acknowled3ments
As I have v1s1tcd and rcv1s1tcd the ovcrflowrng, crone geographies of these texts
over the past seven years wak111.g and drcanung, in body and in imagination,
tracmg them m lovrng amazement my gramudc to the women whose com
plex brilliant work l have had the honor to live with has deepened continually.
My Grst acknowledgments therefore, go to them, for thci r generosity in giving
words and silences to their clcmcs Gloria Wckker, whose work on the mati I
stumbled on a bookstore m Amsterdam and which 1mmed1accly changed
Ill
my mtcllcctual life. has been unnaggmgly open and generous in answering
my quemons over these years. Het support of my work, her transcription of
lobl5ln31 beaunfully, even singmg chem for me and, most IInporcant, the
work she has done to change the fields of Canbbcan and queer studies, have
been mvaluable to me Jean Faubert has greeted my work on his grandmother
Ida with such lummous kindness and enthusiasm that I certainly cannot thank
him enough here. His ongomg willingness to share photos, informatton, and
encouragement has been an incredible, golden gift. Michelle Cliff and Dionne
Brand remam generous about answering my inquiries, a much appreciated act
for such busy wncers I thank you all abundantly.
And as I have worked co become a [better] writer about these writers, I have
been graced with incredible mentors who helped make my impossible aspira
nons pomble. First and foremost, Karl Brirco, my dissertation director at the
Umvermy of California. Berkeley, has been a more wonderful advisor than I
ever could have imagined. From near and from far, he has read my chapters,
prospecti, worries, hopes, and joys for the last eleven years and has always
come back co me with calm, measure, and encouragement. Thank you, Karl;
this book exists because you nurtured it. Also at Berkeley, Chana Kronfeld's
msighcful, beautiful readings of my work and her purple-penned comments
have continued co be an inspiration, and I thank her for introducing me co
the possibilities of poetics. Johan Snapper, Estelle Tanca, and Francine Masiello
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ll(icrcd their continued support of my project and of my unconventional choice 1l r1 f,l~c si· ~11'
of Dutch over Spanish as my official third language in comparative literature. ~(o'' l JC,·r ec 1
r ,r11v
The brilliant Ve.Ve Clark, who directed my undergraduate thesis, saved my ,lr , af jl I I
1v' rll5 l b'
i 1'
undergraduate intellectual life and continued to direct me through her own ffl' Jct \
e$P ,siJ pro 1..t 11.1
rilelcnoegsns iizne g hreard uina teev escryho wolo:r edv eI rwytrhitien.g A In adm B aasr baa rsac hCohlarris, tIi aanm, fboerc athuese loigfh hte trh-atI 0,o ' f\1b1C;1~1' c o (t nJh'iv.' w1Jh'l'Jle( )t,1 ,11 111,C I·
she was and is, I thank her, unendingly. ci/YJ el of ,,t,,..,11
Support for the research in this book has come from the Department of
prcc '"
f11o
Comparative Literature and Dutch Studies at the University of California, ri1Y cha P lJ1esS, P '
r,i1u caref\J so f gr'
Berkeley; from the Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Caribbean Litera
~ose . cea'
L. wor"1, · ~•
ture at the University of Chicago, which made more difference to this project w w1r11
than l can express here; and from the Department of English and the College oLlsl( co ri1Y rk v,r
(lO!l wO
of Liberal Arcs at the Univcrmy of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Special thanks to ,r,e[l editor t 0 viol
dible ess "
Joshua Scodcl. Mich:icl H:inchcr, and Paula Rabinowitz, my department chairs ere . proc
;i1
ade chtS ty1ossest, ,
at the University of Chicago and the Un vcrs1t y of Minnesota, for their help in
I 01 dp ale I 11
secunng these funds for my work. press an copiottSt 1c1
Many colleagues have generously read versions of this manuscript and/or its deserve [lly. sa bollt pr
uesnon
parts. pushing me co expand and contract, to move coward the lyrical and the 01anYq !And n1y g
experimental At che Un1vers1ty of Chicago, Jacqueline Goldsby, Joshua Scodel, he way I
along ries, Lisa
t . .
and Robert von Hallberg showed their engaged support by reading early ver Modern1nes se .
insp1rati0n
srons of my work and suggesting turns coward the unexpected; thank you for
ha.s beena n .
caking the time. At the University of Minnesota, Ellen Messer-Davidow and dfucureo f scholarshq
an . ,
Maria Damon generously showed their support for this junior colleague by
Myf amily's patience
reading and commencing on the manuscript as I prepared co send it off to pub
with mycomputcr-bou n
lishers; their thoughtfulness in doing so has helped make chis publication pos
sible. And the members of my writing group, Siobhan Craig, Shaden Tageldin, hear me calk about I ts r(
and Christophe Wall-Romana, acted as sensitive and insightful readers dur process.T hank you to m)
ing the fifteen months of my final revisions; the brightness of their eyes and read drafts of what th
to
thoughts, and their accencion co detail and inspiration, have been wonderful
alwaysa sks, and my ste-p
to me. From far across the country and far beyond the call of duty, Rosamund
Nicole,Adam, and Rabb.
King, on the ocher side of the Great Lakes, and Matt Richardson, at the other
end of the Mississippi, generously read chapter drafts in spare time chat they mg Little Mermaid to 1111
did not have but made. As scholars who are opening groundbreaking work in grandfather John h I
, t at
bl~c_k queer s_cudie~, their careful readings have been inspiring, and their great grandrnother H
lh CttJ - ,,,.
spmAc sepd~nne.as sl dm~ btta okmf ~ge athrte atpimpree chiaast iobene gno iens voaulut atbol eth. oTshea cnokl lyeoaug u' ehsu a mn bdl yfr. iends tht.as v we·g rhou' '"II' Ut') Tu\.u.1; cJe' -
our the
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who believed m the importance of this queer sea of Black Atlantic islands I went godrnoch rn by l1l
. er,~
l-0 di\'e ~to • fur 1
·~'!".l '
•iq ~-··11•.'
1ln
Ack1wwledc9111cnrs xr
looking for, reflected that 1111porta11ce back, ,111d encouraged me to go where the
rexes led Thoma~ Glave, for generosrty with Jdv1ce, support, ,rnd the beaucyof
his prose. E Patnck Johnson, for c11cou I ag, ng me to take chances; Cathy Cohen,
for reaching our .rnd suppomng me, ,111d Rode, rck Ferguson, for encourage
ment ,crategy, and the great gift of-1ude1111c he:i.lth to :i.11 of you, my sincere,
expansive gracm1de And .111 endb\ w,rnn thank you to my series editor jack
Halberqam H" herce rntel lectu.1I su ppo, t, Im gentle yet firm push for me
to make elm prn1ect better tlun I 1111Jg111ed :i.nd the concrnual, crystal sharp
clantv of Im ms,ght hJve been unexpected wonderful grfrs, Jnd he rema111s
my model of what rt means to mentor J JUl1ror scholar w1tl1 all generosrcy.
Much Jpprec1aC1on also goes to the ,111onyrnous readers of this manuscript,
whose carefulness prec1s1on and beJuttful prose left me yes, quite sen
ously with tears of gratitude fo, taking so much C1me w,ch and paying such
accennon co my work Ken Wissoker at Duke Unrvermy Press has been an 111
credible editor to work with and his support, generomy, and good humor have
made this process a wonderful expmence Mandy Early at Duke Untvermy
Press and Dale Mossestad at the Un1vermy of Minnesota Libranes more than
deserve my copwus thanks for their panence and attentiveness w1th my many,
many questions about prepanng chis manusmpt. thank you for help every seep
along che way! And my gramude co the editors of the groundbreaking Perverse
Modemmes senes, Lisa Lowe and Judith Halberstam. Their work rn chis senes
has been an msp1ranon to me and an enormous contribution co the present
and future of scholarship, and [ am so very, very honored to be included rn tt.
Mv family's panence with and support for my rncense, ongorng relmonship
with my computer-bound manuscnpt. and their hope that they would one day
hear me talk about its results on Oprah, have bolstered me through chis long
process. Thank you co my mother, Helen, and my father, Jim, who have wanted
co read drafts of what thrn daughter has done, co my stepfather Sheldon, who
always asks, and my stepmother Rowena; co my SlSters and brothers, Christina,
Nicole, Adam, and Rabbit; my niece Sophia, who let me rake breaks from play
mg Lmle Mermaid to write, my nephew Elijah, and my niece Katie. And co my
grandfather John, that he may see this with pride on the ocher side, ,rnd my
grandmother Herta- yes, as I promised .is a Ii ttle g, rl, I have become .1 wnrer as
[ have grown up Dulce and Ariel, my loves, know that I never could have done
this without them by my side, warmly and uncond1t1onally Thank you to my
godmother, Iman,, for seerng so much creacrvrty w:i.rnng the depths for me
111
to dive inco. And- wich am:i.zernent to my d:i.ughtcr B.1fa Arnihan, growing
x11 Acknowlcd..cpncnr~
beautifully patiently r.1111bowly 111side me as I finished the la
ed1 ts st of the Copy,
And last but neve1 never least Kale Banngue FaJJrdo has seen
the wnr1ng of chi~ hom the longnc, brightest days o(. surniner to Ilhle thro llgh
bluest night~ o( w11Her .1nd h.1s w1. cl1 .1 generous Leo heart be) t c Ion,g cst,
~ , ievcd
throughout them .111 T0 you, KJlc rnlcw1,u for being my shiprn:icc l tn nc
1
betng mvcompan1on 111 schol:u~h1p and so much more, and For bei,n a Whay s · fto r
s:ido1 I knov., who ~till recognizes mermaids. Y
gt con/