Niblett, Michael (2006) Relocating the body : memory, ritual, and form in Caribbean liteature. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis approaches the issue of form in the Caribbean novel from the perspective of the key role played by the body as an alternative repository of memory in the region. Whether in terms of the production of the wage-labourer under capitalism or the regulation and exploitation of the slave, the body was the locus of a series of power relations upon which colonialist / capitalist expansion hinged. Yet for the colonised, its connection to cultural practices such as vodun ritual meant that it served too as the amanuensis of an historical legacy denied 'legitimate' expression. Tracing the impact of the various material and ideological constraints imposed upon not only the body but also land and language from the time of slavery, the thesis explores how three writers in particular - Patrick Chamoiseau, Wilson Harris, and Earl Lovelace - have sought to integrate this embodied tradition in order to transform a body politic scarred by racial polarisation, underdevelopment, and victimhood.

The thesis examines how the need for an original epic form able to express the complexity of the Caribbean's history requires are-visionary approach to memory. It suggests that the latter in tum requires the formulation of an original philosophy, one that, reflecting the admixture of cultures in the Caribbean, makes use of a diversity of intellectual traditions, including traditional African religion, to forge ontological and epistemological modes capable of conveying cross-cultural community. The incorporation of the insights provided by rituals based on ego-displacement, for example, contributes to a form that seeks to undo the consolidation of character and narrative, consuming or reritualising the past to release a new vision of the future. Moreover, the worldview behind this form offers a means to envisage the renewal of the national project and the transformation of the capitalist world system.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PS American literature
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Caribbean literature, Memory in literature, Ritual in literature
Official Date:	2006
Dates:	Date Event 2006 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Dabydeen, David
Extent:	v, 6-325 leaves
Language:	eng

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