Gender and Identity in the Caribbean

Location: 1330 New York Avenue NW Washington, DC. Enrique V. Iglesias Conference Center - Inter-American Development Bank.
Dr. Kwame Dixon will examine the literary discourse of Afro-Costa Rican writers with particular emphasis on the works of Eulalia Bernard, Shirley Campbell, and Delia McDonald. Afro-Hispanic writers, except for Nicolas Guillén, Nancy Morejón (Cuban) and possibly Manuel Zapata Olivella (Colombian), are for the most part socially excluded by the traditional Latin American literary canon because their writing is considered too specific in its themes on the black experience. It is argued that the writings of Afro-Hispanic writers are socially cleansed from the larger literary canon of Caribbean and Latin American literature. This discussion aims to show how Afro-Costa Rican women, through use of identity and gendered discourses, situate Afro-Hispanic writing within the larger frame of Latin American and Caribbean literature.
For more information, please visit IADB's Website.