Bethell Bennett, Ian Anthony (2000) Transcultural rhythms : the Caribbean grandmother repeating across time and space. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The figure of the grandmother is a rhythm which repeats itself throughout
Caribbean literature. The Caribbean literary grandmother owes a great deal to a history
of hardship under slavery and post-emancipation struggles for self-realisation and
empowerment.
This thesis explores the repeating theme of theme of the grandmother-headed-household in
literary works from Guadeloupe to Jamaica. The novels of Simone Schwarz-Bart, Joseph
Zobel, Cecil Foster, Zee Edgell, Alvin Bennett, Cristina Garcia and Pablo Medina are
interrogated in this space to reveal the importance of the grandmother character as the
backbone of the works. Other novels from the region will also be utilised as secondary
texts to further demonstrate the timeless nature of the grandmother's primary role in
cultural retention and in the writer's imagination.
Social-history provides an invaluable backdrop for understanding some of the
dynamics involved in the West Indian family relationship and family structure. Theories
as produced by theorists from within the region will be drawn upon alongside theories
produced outside the Caribbean. These theories are included because they allow for a
culturally distinct reading of Antillian literature that does not imprison the subject as
reductionist, Eurocentric theory does. The combination of these theories , will thereby
allow the importance of the grandmother character to come through, not as a
dysfunctional copy of European models, but rather as a character constructed within a
unique cultural contexts on distinct cultural codes.
The premise of this thesis is the deconstruction of boundaries by highlighting the
repeating grandmother rhythm. The established barriers serve to segregate works into
groups based on language, nationality, gender, and ethnicity. Therefore, reading along
the restrictive lines established by the latter has disallowed the rich understanding that
an interdisciplinary study which crosses genre, gender, and lines of ethnicity reveals.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Caribbean literature, Grandmothers in literature, Grandmothers -- Caribbean Area
Official Date:	March 2000
Dates:	Date Event March 2000 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Bassnett, Susan ; King, John, 1950-
Sponsors:	Lyford Cay Foundation
Extent:	[ix], 293 leaves
Language:	eng

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