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(De)colonial Narratives: Ruben Dario, V. S. Naipaul and Simone Schwarz-Bart

List, Jared Paul
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1370266680

Abstract Details

2013, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Spanish and Portuguese.
This dissertation is located within a comparativist framework, much of which has been termed either post-colonial or de-colonial studies. The study recapitulates Anibal Quijano’s formulation of the coloniality of power and the coloniality of knowledge—a concept that presupposes a universalizing paradigm constituted by Eurocentrism, global capitalism and social classification vis-a-vis race—and uses it to trace colonial, anti-colonial and de-colonial thought in the works of Ruben Dario, V. S. Naipaul and Simone Schwarz-Bart. My aims are three-fold: (a) examine (de)colonial responses to the coloniality of power and the coloniality of knowledge, (b) demonstrate how literature helps explore, understand and further problematize coloniality, and (c) emphasize the transoceanic nature of Latin America and the Caribbean. My principal premise is that literature—as a cultural artifact—is an excellent medium that facilitates the study of coloniality in all of its manifestations. I use Dario, Naipaul and Schwarz-Bart’s respective works to see how they conceptualize and mitigate coloniality, and the results are that each author engages coloniality differently. Dario’s chronicles, essays and letters reveal the poet’s geopolitical preoccupations in light of North American imperialism and the colonial legacy of Europe. The works show divided, if not contradictory, positions that the writer holds in relation to coloniality. A selection of Naipaul’s novels permits an extended look into the fundamental role that naming and inscription played in establishing coloniality. For the most part, Naipaul’s works reiterate colonial discourses that continue to marginalize and disqualify non-European subjectivities and geographies. In relation to Schwarz-Bart’s novels, examining the concepts of gender, life, death and relationality reveals traces of a de-colonial framework. Nonetheless, in her works, I argue that colonial discourses still linger in the form of (anti-)coloniality. In each instance, the authors’ works become pedagogical tools that, in the large scope, lay the foundation for de-colonial worlds. Ultimately, I claim that a transoceanic comparison of subaltern intellectual and cultural responses to colonization, Westernization and coloniality help us promote alternative epistemologies, expose Eurocentric geopolitical divisions and generate epistemological democratization where one region or group of people is not considered superior over others. Using literature to test Quijano’s concept not only reminds us of coloniality’s power and influence in the world we live in today, it also helps us deconstruct said concept.
Ileana Rodríguez, PhD (Advisor)
Laura Podalsky, PhD (Committee Member)
Ulises Juan Zevallos-Aguilar, PhD (Committee Member)
322 p.
Latin American Literature

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • List, J. P. (2013). (De)colonial Narratives: Ruben Dario, V. S. Naipaul and Simone Schwarz-Bart [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1370266680

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • List, Jared. (De)colonial Narratives: Ruben Dario, V. S. Naipaul and Simone Schwarz-Bart . 2013. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1370266680.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • List, Jared. "(De)colonial Narratives: Ruben Dario, V. S. Naipaul and Simone Schwarz-Bart ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1370266680

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.
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