Intersectional-Diaspora in the Third Generation Caribbean-American Female Narratives: Jamaica Kincaid and Elizabeth Nunez

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of English, Salmas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Salmas, Iran..

2 Department of English, Parand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran..

Abstract

Considering the evolving intersected marginalization of in-transit individuals, the study addresses the reciprocally constructed phenomena of intersectionality casting wrapped social inequalities. Thereby, the intersectionality related coined concept diaspora-intersectionality is presented to acknowledge the role of the overlapping interplay of interconnected factors in social exclusion, labor marginalization, class discrimination, genderization, and social locationality of diasporic female characters in the two Caribbean women writers' works: Jamaica Kincaid's Lucy (1987) and Elizabeth Nunez's Boundaries (2011). As an analytical tool, the recently-formulated intersectionality theory enables an analysis to explore how diaspora context shapes marginalized shifting identities and how dominant power systems construct and neutralize social injustice and inequality. Correspondingly, several specific parallel denominators on the two counterpart narratives are studied to test and also demonstrate the political and counter-hegemonic potentiality of intersectionality theory. The study has reached the conclusion that the longstanding binaries of white/black, master/slave and male/female have given place to multiple interlinked dimensions imposing diasporic identity. In comparing the two complementary-narratives, it emerges that Caribbean diasporic identities are constructed at the intersection of social, familial, economic and gendered hierarchies to endure experiences of alienation, marginality and inequality. Furthermore, blurring the demarcations, the domains of home, belonging and identification are challenged and the intersectional identities are formed outside the constraints of space and border defined as outsider within.

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References

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Research in Contemporary World Literature
Volume 29, Issue 1
July 2024
Pages 289-314

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