The discourses of childhood: A child-centered critique of Anglo-Caribbean literature.

摘要

Like feminist critique, which has uncovered the many ways language encodes meanings that reproduce violence against women, this child centered critique sets out to uncover some underlying concepts that lead to the violation of children's minds and bodies, i.e. a kidstory to complement the many histories and herstories that have emerged to aid us in a more critical reading of the world. I argue that the homespace is entangled in dominant discourses inherited from a history of colonialism and that child characters may disturb this discourse because of their view from the margin.; By tracing the threads of dominant discourses in Anglo-Caribbean fictional representations of childhood, I explore how these threads are woven together to perpetuate domination. I show that the homesphere is not always the safe haven that we take it to be; it is often a site of invalidation and submission for the chid. Taking my cue from child psychiatrist Robert Coles, I claim that literature can be a vehicle for moral and social inquiry. This work emphasizes the need to become aware of and change the discourses we think through. Literature, as social evidence and testimony (Coser) can resonate with our vulnerability as embodied creatures (Galbraith) and, thereby, become a powerful instrument for scrutinizing our most common beliefs.; Cognitive rhetoric, as set forth by Mark Turner, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson provides the analytical frame for uncovering those default concepts that inform childrearing and make the home a not so safe place in the representations of childhood found in the Anglo Caribbean fiction of Ramabai Espinet, Olive Senior, Marlene Nourbese Philip, Michael Anthony, Austin Clarke and Harold Sonny Ladoo.