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Description
The primary aim of this dissertation is to make a substantial contribution to the better understanding of the identity formations of Black Caribbean migrant women in Britain. The dissertation outlines a theory of Black female subject formation in Britain. This theory proposes that the process of subject formation in these women is an interrupted one. It further suggests that interruptions are likely to occur at four crucial points in the development of their identities. These four points are: 1) the immigrant identity; 2) the Caribbean identity; 3) “the Jamaican” identity; and 4) the Black British identity.
In order to understand the racial and gendered dynamics of identity formation in these women, I hypothesized that the structure of institutional racism in Britain has taken the form of a “double wall” or a “double portcullis”, which much be scaled by these “immigrants”. My research, based on interviews with 15 Black professional women who identify with a Caribbean ancestry, confirmed very strongly the existence of this double portcullis. It further supported the hypothesis that the above points of identity transition were also points of possible interruption. My research also revealed that through a variety of social movements, cultural and political mobilizations, it has been possible to get over the negative stereotypes of the immigrant identity, the Caribbean identity, “the Jamaican” identity and to succeed getting over the first or the Black British wall of the double portcullis. For me, the most interesting findings of my research, are the continuing difficulties that the women I interviewed have faced in attempting to climb over the second portcullis to achieve the Black English identity. The dissertation concludes with some suggestions about the future of this “unfinished” Black British identity and its prospects for easier access to the Black English identity, and thus to “life success”.
In order to understand the racial and gendered dynamics of identity formation in these women, I hypothesized that the structure of institutional racism in Britain has taken the form of a “double wall” or a “double portcullis”, which much be scaled by these “immigrants”. My research, based on interviews with 15 Black professional women who identify with a Caribbean ancestry, confirmed very strongly the existence of this double portcullis. It further supported the hypothesis that the above points of identity transition were also points of possible interruption. My research also revealed that through a variety of social movements, cultural and political mobilizations, it has been possible to get over the negative stereotypes of the immigrant identity, the Caribbean identity, “the Jamaican” identity and to succeed getting over the first or the Black British wall of the double portcullis. For me, the most interesting findings of my research, are the continuing difficulties that the women I interviewed have faced in attempting to climb over the second portcullis to achieve the Black English identity. The dissertation concludes with some suggestions about the future of this “unfinished” Black British identity and its prospects for easier access to the Black English identity, and thus to “life success”.
ContributorsJohn, Anique (Author) / Swadener, Elizabeth B (Thesis advisor) / Henry, Paget (Thesis advisor) / Hinds, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
The rapid development of the steamship, the railway, and everyday land vehicles in around 1900 in both Europe and the Malay world fueled the imagination of writers of British, Indonesian, and Malaysian fiction. With these vehicles incorporated into the narratives, characters experience mobilities that shape the discourse of self, empire, and nations. This dissertation considers such experience through a comparative study of British literature on one side, which consists of Joseph Conrad’s works and other adventure fiction, and Indonesian and Malaysian fiction on the other, which include first-generation novels, to gain a better understanding of their convergence and divergence. I argue that both British and Malay characters see the steamship as a tool to incorporate, to borrow from Edward Said, “abroad” into life at “home.” But while British characters use the steamship for the consolidation of the empire, Malay characters use it in the process of state formation that undermines the empire. Both British and Malay characters see the railway as an effective tool to modernize the Malay world especially through the discipline of time management. But while British characters move away from the railway tracks to push to the next frontier and expand the empire, Malay characters circulate, following railway routes to embrace, even though sometimes “mimic,” modernity and progress. Both British and Malay characters see everyday land transportation as a tool to measure civilizations through characters’ sense of speed. But while British characters use it to establish, to paraphrase from Homi Bhabha, “a fixity of identity” and separate European and Malay civilizations, Malay characters use it to imagine a hybrid world where different civilizations share a space. These converging and diverging ideas about mobilities in British, Indonesian, and Malaysian fiction are essentially the convergence and the divergence between colonial and postcolonial worlds.
ContributorsZamzami, Muhammad Irfan (Author) / Hope, Jonathan (Thesis advisor) / Rush, James (Committee member) / Free, Melissa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024