The African-Jamaican aesthetic : cultural retention and transformation across borders / by Lisa Tomlinson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tomlinson, Lisa, author.

Series:

Cross/cultures ; 0924-1426 196.

Cross/cultures

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jamaican literature--History and criticism.

Jamaican literature.

Jamaican literature--African influences.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 210 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden : Brill Rodopi, [2017].

Summary:

The African-Jamaican Aesthetic explores the ways in which diasporic African-Jamaican writers employ cultural referents aesthetically in their literary works to challenge dominant European literary discourses; articulate concerns about racialization and belonging; and preserve and enact cultural continuities in their new environment(s). The creative works considered provide insight into how local and indigenous Caribbean knowledges are both changed by the transfer to new, diasporic locales and reflect a unified consciousness of African-Jamaican roots and culture. The works surveyed also reveal significant connections with a 'past' Africa. Indeed, Africa is treated as a central source of aesthetic influence in these writers' expression of local cultures and indigenous knowledges. Aspects covered include language (Jamaican Patwa), religion, folklore, music, and dance to identify the continuities in an African-Jamaican aesthetic, which is understood here as an ongoing dialogue of cultural memory between the Caribbean, Africa, and diasporic spaces. Writers discussed include Claude McKay, Una Marson, Louise Bennett, Afua Cooper, Lillian Allen, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Benjamin Zephaniah, Lillian Allen, Jean 'Binta' Breeze, Makeda Silvera, and Joan Riley Book jacket.

Contents:

Work songs, proverbs, and storytelling in Jamaican literary tradition

The African-Jamaican aesthetic, Pan-Africanism, and decolonization in early Jamaican literature

Crossing over to the diaspora : the reggae aesthetic, dub, and the literary diaspora

Gendering dub culture across diaspora : Jamaican female dub poets in Canada and England

Home away from home : the African-Jamaican aesthetic in diasporic novels.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 183-200) and index.

ISBN:

9789004338005

9004338004

OCLC:

973876925

Publisher Number:

9789004338005