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The African Diaspora: Autobiographies Theorizing In-Between Spaces

Dautricourt, Safiya Lyles
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392043749

Abstract Details

2005, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, African-American and African Studies.
A comparative analysis of four autobiographical texts, The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano (Olaudah Equiano 1776), The Dark Child (Camara Laye 1954), I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou 1969), and Heremakhonon (Maryse Conde 1976) suggests that the African Diasporic experience is characterized by spatial and social fluidity generating from voluntary and involuntary movements of Black peoples across time and space. African Diasporic life histories are comprised of identity shifts, reflective of adaptability to change. The literary genre of autobiography offers a unique window into the process by which individuals attempt to negotiate their history through memory making. The rendering of the African Diasporic journey through the narratives of Equiano, Laye, Angelou, and Conde underscore the contested nature of gender, race, and nation with respect to identity making. The Western socio-political conceptualization of social categories have been challenged by a number of revisionist scholars including Hortense Spillers, Brent Hayes Edwards, Charles Mills, and Paul Gilroy. I find that analysis of Black autobiography benefits from the alternative theoretical and methodological models proposed by these authors. Finally, I propose an African Diasporic approach as an inclusive framework for the continued interpretation and comparative analysis of Black productions across geographies.
Rebecca Wanzo (Advisor)
John-Conteh Morgan (Committee Member)
Paulette Pierce (Committee Member)
77 p.
African American Studies

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Dautricourt, S. L. (2005). The African Diaspora: Autobiographies Theorizing In-Between Spaces [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392043749

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Dautricourt, Safiya. The African Diaspora: Autobiographies Theorizing In-Between Spaces. 2005. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392043749.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Dautricourt, Safiya. "The African Diaspora: Autobiographies Theorizing In-Between Spaces." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392043749

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1392043749
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© 2005, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.