Routledge Caribbean Women Writers and Globalization: Fictions of Independence

Caribbean Women Writers and Globalization offers a fresh reading of contemporary literature by Caribbean women in the context of global and local economic forces, providing a valuable corrective to much Caribbean feminist literary criticism. Departing from the trend towards thematic diasporic studies, Helen Scott considers each text in light of its national historical and cultural origins while also acknowledging regional and international patterns. Though the work of Caribbean women writers is apparently less political than the male-dominated literature of national liberation, Scott argues that these women nonetheless express the sociopolitical realities of the postindependent Caribbean, providing insight into the dynamics of imperialism that survive the demise of formal colonialism. In addition, she identifies the specific aesthetic qualities that reach beyond the confines of geography and history in the work of such writers as Oonya Kempadoo, Jamaica Kincaid, Edwidge Danticat, Pauline Melville, and Janice Shinebourne. Throughout, Scott's persuasive and accessible study sustains the dialectical principle that art is inseparable from social forces and yet always strains against the limits they impose. Her book will be an indispensable resource for literature and women's studies scholars, as well as for those interested in postcolonial, cultural, and globalization studies. Review '... a profoundly thoughtful, impeccably researched, and - amazingly enough - elegantly written book... A scholar with the intellectual breadth and depth of a Sidney Mintz or a Peter Hulme, HS works the historical, critical, and theoretical mine fields that frame her task thoroughly unscathed and has produced a study that is a model of its kind. ..Scott's book is so good it feels too short. ' American Book Review '... Scott resists facile reductive tendencies of generalization and oversimplification. She deftly entwines the historical and geopolitical contexts... compelling analysis of texts... Highly recommended.' Choice About the Author Helen C. Scott, a native of England, teaches postcolonial literature at the University of Vermont, USA. She has published work in a number of books and periodicals, including Callaloo, Journal of Haitian Studies, and Novel: A Forum on Fiction.