Reimagining the Caribbean

Conversations among the Creole, English, French, and Spanish Caribbean

Contributions by Cécile Accilien, Aude Dieudé, Anne M. François, Véronique Maisier, Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, Elizabeth Russ, Krista Slagle, Camilla Stevens Cover design or artwork by Joseph Cantave Edited by Valérie K. Orlando, Sandra Cypess

Publication date:

01 July 2014

Length of book:

212 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739194195

This volume brings together scholars working in different languages—Creole, French, English, Spanish—and modes of cultural production—literature, art, film, music—to suggest how best to model courses that impart the rich, vibrant, and multivalent aspects of the Caribbean in the classroom. Essays focus on discussing how best to cross languages, histories, and modes of discourse. Instead of relying on available paradigms that depend on Western ways of thinking, the essays recommend methods to develop a pan-Caribbean perspective in relation to notions of the self, uses of language, gender hierarchies, and ideas of nationhood. Contributors represent various disciplines, work in one of the several languages of the Caribbean, and offer essays that reflect different cadres of expertise.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: “Situating the Caribbean: Texts and Contexts,”
Valérie Orlando
Chapter 1: “Approaching the Caribbean from a Latin American Perspective,”
Sandra Cypess
Chapter 2: “Teaching the Caribbean across Borders: the Web Approach,”
Véronique Maisier
Chapter 3: “Islands without Borders: Teaching the Caribbean across Languages and Cultures,”
Anne François and Cécile Accilien
Chapter 4: “Islands without Borders: Analyzing the Caribbean through the Vehicle of Translation Studies,”
Krista Slagle
Chapter 5: “Caribbean Drama: A Stage for Cross-Cultural Poetics,”
Camille Stevens
Chapter 6: “Plantation Portraits: Teaching the Hispanic Caribbean through the Arts,”
Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert
Chapter 7: “’A Hispaniola Conspiracy’: Edwidge Danticat and Junot Díaz Performing
(in) the Caribbean Public Sphere,”
Elizabeth Russ
Chapter 8: “Defending Freedom and Human Rights: Teaching Toussaint Louverture
and Haiti’s History,”
Aude Dieudé
Bibliography of Useful Resources and Texts
Glossary of Selected Terms
Index
Notes on Contributors

[T]his edited volume offers a comparative analysis of the multifaceted nature of the Caribbean. Though many studies have appeared on the region's literature and culture, this work is unique in its emphasis on teaching the Caribbean to North American students. The contributors, Orlando and Cypess included, examine the problems scholars often face when teaching courses on the Caribbean, and they call for a cross-disciplinary approach, despite the innumerable challenges this entails. They maintain that teaching of the Caribbean must move beyond specific languages, and beyond literary studies, to include other modes of cultural production. Contributors analyze literary works, and other forms of cultural production, from diverse perspectives, including border theory, ecocriticism, and translation studies. The volume stresses the importance of the region’s history and its representation in education and the visual arts as well as literature. This volume's pedagogical methodology makes it quite valuable for those involved with teaching courses on the Caribbean. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, and faculty.