Translating linguistic conflicts: a decolonial perspective on multilingual Caribbean literature

Bringing together perspectives from literary multilingualism and decolonial theory, my dissertation addresses how multilingualism in Caribbean literature, particularly the use of marginalized linguistic practices, contributes to debates about literary study between languages. I argue that multilingual Caribbean literature addresses the legacies of colonialism, a factor that is often obscured in discussions about language conflict in the field of comparative literature. While comparative literature debates generally focus on the nation-state as their unit of analysis, multilingual Caribbean writers draw on the region's colonial history and offer insight into a range of multilingual practices operating within and beyond the nation-state framework. I accomplish this shift in perspective by analyzing literary texts that represent specific linguistic conflicts situated within global linguistic hierarchies and considering these literary works in conversation with decolonial theorizations of translation and multilingualism. I argue that literary writers contribute to decolonial linguistic projects both by proposing new relationships between languages and by harnessing the contact between these languages as a source of linguistic and literary creativity. Chapter one analyzes two translation anthologies Multiples and Palabras de una isla/ Paroles d'une île to explore how a decolonial, Caribbean framework grounds discussions of radical translation practice in specific literary projects and the hierarchical linguistic conflicts they represent or ignore. Chapter two turns to literary multilingualism, an outlook that urges us to reconsider the linguistic divisions often taken for granted in translation perspectives. I explore linguistic difference both within and between languages in three Dominican literary works: Pedro Antonio Valdez's young adult novel Palomos, Josefina Báez's theatrical prose work Levente no. Yolayorkdominicanyork, and Juan Bosch's short story “Luis Pie.” The third chapter further problematizes the space between languages by considering literary conflicts between Caribbean Creoles and European languages. I analyze the theatrical works “Mémoires d'île” by Ina Césaire and “Fallen Angel and the Devil Concubine” by Patricia Cumper and her collaborators, in order to argue that these works strategically create opacity between Caribbean Creoles and European languages. In the final chapter, I further explore the role of opacity in M. NourbeSe Philip's Zong! and Harold Sonny Ladoo's No Pain Like This Body. By analyzing these texts, I argue that opacity can operate as a decolonial reading methodology.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Shawn Catherine Gonzale