'The African Presence in Caribbean Literature' revisited: recovering the politics of imagined co-belonging 1930–2005

Donnell, A. (2015) 'The African Presence in Caribbean Literature' revisited: recovering the politics of imagined co-belonging 1930–2005. Research in African Literatures, 46 (4). pp. 35-55. ISSN 1527-2044

Abstract/Summary

Working outward from Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s landmark 1974 essay, “The African Presence in Caribbean Literature,” this article explores the fuller history of the idea of Africa in anglophone Caribbean critical and literary works from the 1930s to the 2000s. It demonstrates that earlier, now forgotten Caribbean critics drew on imperfect and incomplete Caribbean literary imaginings of Africa to frame a counter-colonial politics of identity. The essay also brings back into view writings by Una Marson, Victor Stafford Reid, and Derek Walcott that expressed a different politics of solidarity based on the shared experience of colonial violence. Readings of recent literary works by Charlotte Williams and Nalo Hopkinson reveal the contemporary crafting of this relation around a heightened awareness of both presence and loss, history and imagination. Importantly, this gathering of sources and perspectives allows for an appreciation of the role that a reach toward Africa has played in articulations of Caribbeanness and its complex patterning of cultural co-belonging.

Additional Information	Special edition: What Is Africa to Me Now?
Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/46941
Refereed	Yes
Additional Information	Special edition: What Is Africa to Me Now?
Publisher	Indiana University Press
Publisher Statement	This article is published as Research in African Literature 46(4) 35-55. No part of this article may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or distributed, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photographic, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Indiana University Press. For educational re-use, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center (508-744-3350). For all other permissions, please visit Indiana University Press' permissions page.
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