Diasporic bonds: Representations of women in marriage in African and Caribbean Francophone literature
Description
This dissertation analyzes literary and filmic representations of marriage in Francophone Africa and the Caribbean. Marriage is an important topos and serves as a crucial narrative device because it provides a space to address issues of identity on several levels: personal, religious, social, political and national. I elaborate on the complexity of identity as it relates to marriage. I particularly consider the role of women and men in marriage and how these roles are shaped by culture In the first chapter, I illustrate how marriage and gender politics are represented and how they relate to identity formation. Chapter Two analyzes how marriage and religion operate as a complex but coherent entity. It also considers the dynamics between marriage, religion, the social order and the ways in which religion is used by patriarchy to sustain the social privileges of the male. Chapter Three explores the relation between marriage, metissage and identity by examining marriage in an intercultural and interracial setting. Finally, in Chapter Four, I contextualize the relation between marriage and national identity. I argue that the nation and the family are closely related and influence one another. In that regard, the limited role of women in marriage is reflected at the national level, and women become second class citizens in the national sphere. My conclusion revisits the link between the various chapters and stresses the necessity for women to create their own space within the marriage bond