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Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2129-125X
AccessType
Campus-Only Access for Five (5) Years
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Hispanic Literatures & Linguistics
Year Degree Awarded
2020
Month Degree Awarded
February
First Advisor
Luis Marentes
Second Advisor
Roberto Márquez
Third Advisor
Barbara Zecchi
Subject Categories
Caribbean Languages and Societies | Latin American Literature | Latina/o Studies
Abstract
In this dissertation, I track the political emotions present in Abeng by Jamaican Michelle Cliff and Balún Canán by Mexican Rosario Castellanos in order to identify the personal notions of justice held by each of the protagonists. Their personal definitions of justice are tangible in the protagonists' actions and the narrators' tone and decisions. In this research, I engage in a close reading analysis of the emotional legacies that each girl-protagonists accept or reject from the adults around them, their friends, and fiction. I use a theoretical framework based on affect theory (specifically political emotions) and concepts from moral philosophy (e.g. reification, recognition, and epistemic justice), in order to question the conceptualization of the traditional and feminine Bildungsroman. By comparing a book written in English (Abeng) with one written in Spanish (Balún Canán), I advance an understanding of Latin America as a political identity shaped by a shared experience of postcoloniality, which goes beyond language barriers.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/jwax-2881
Recommended Citation
Osorio, Pilar, "Y así les nació la conciencia. Las emociones políticas en Balún Canán de Rosario Castellanos y Abeng de Michelle Cliff" (2020). Doctoral Dissertations. 1858.
https://doi.org/10.7275/jwax-2881
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1858