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Title: | OUR WORDS ARE BRICK AND MORTAR: MASCULINE RECONSTRUCTIONS OF HOME AND COMMUNITY IN WINDRUSH ERA WEST INDIAN MIGRANT LITERATURE |
Authors: | Layne, Jhordan |
Advisor: | Coleman, Daniel |
Department: | English and Cultural Studies |
Keywords: | West Indian, Caribbean, Windrush, George Lamming, Samuel Selvon, Masculinity, Home, Diaspora |
Publication Date: | Nov-2014 |
Abstract: | This thesis examines the concept of home in West Indian migrant literature of the Windrush Era. The analysis focuses on home as a series of reference points which construct inclusions and exclusions in a given society. I postulate that the non-white, male West Indian migrant’s idea of home endures a double disruption (in the shift from the colonial patriarchal paradigm within the West Indies and in the act of migration to England) which forces him to reconstruct a notion of home within England. In the investigation, I discover that West Indian men must learn to adapt to the concomitant societal pressures of racism, imperialism, colonialism and nationalism in England, in order to build a sense of home which can withstand such pressures. In the process of this investigation, I also discover that use of the West Indian language and the pursuit of male community building is indispensable to creating new forms of masculinity which can exist in a diasporic community without necessarily reaffirming the previous colonial patriarchal paradigm. |
Description: | McMaster University MASTER OF ARTS (2014) Hamilton, Ontario (English) TITLE: Our Words are Brick and Mortar: Masculine Reconstructions of Home in Windrush Era West Indian Migrant Literature AUTHOR: Jhordan Layne, B.A. (Western University) SUPERVISOR: Professor Daniel Coleman NUMBER OF PAGES: v, 110 |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/16402 |
Appears in Collections: | Open Access Dissertations and Theses |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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Our Words Are Brick and Mortar.pdf | M.A. Thesis | 689.01 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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