53 research outputs found
Identity and dislocation in Caribbean women's literature: a study of the writings of Velma Pollard
No full textJamaican-born Velma Pollard has been publishing poetry and short stories for nearly
thirty years. Her first poems appeared in the 1970s, her first volume of short stories in
1989, and her first novel in 1994. Despite this considerable literary output, in the evergrowing
critical literature on Caribbean women's writing Pollard's work has not attracted
any of the scholarly treatment accorded to other writers. Given this lack of critical
attention to Pollard's considerable body of work, this thesis aims to provide the first
detailed and contextualised study of her writings (excluding the majority of her poetry
and of her writings on linguistics), and to accord Pollard the recognition her work
deserves.
Chapter 1 of this thesis situates Pollard's writings in the context of Caribbean
(women's) literature, and writings on identity, dislocations and (Caribbean) migration. I
argue that Pollard's principal contribution to Caribbean literature is found in her
engagement with two main subjects, return migration and relationships (male-female and
female-female), within a wider context of debates on identity and dislocation.
Chapter 2 introduces Pollard's work by way of a general discussion of her novella
Karl, which won the Casa de las Americas literary award in 1992. I consider Karl to be
central to Pollard's work, not least because it features many of the themes explored by
her later writings, including her novel, Homestretch, which is the subject of Chapter 3.
Pollard's first novel, Homestretch, which was published in 1994, explores the themes
of identity and dislocation through the experiences of 'return migrants' and 'repeat
migrants' and their comparison of life in England, the United States and Jamaica. The
novel chronicles how these migrants come to reconnect with and accept their cultural
heritage.
In chapters 4 and 5 I discuss selected stories taken from Pollard's two collections
of short stories, Considering Woman ('Cages', 'My Sisters', 'My Mother', and 'Gran') and
from Karl and Other Stories ('A Night's Tale', 'Miss Chandra', 'Betsy Hyde', and 'Altamont
Jones'). In these stories Pollard explores male-female relationships and the lives of
several generations and a wide range of Caribbean women and men. Pollard utilises the
West Indian setting, speech, situations and conflicts in these stories to graphically
describe familiar Caribbean role models and to provide a narrative and literary
examination of the frustrations and conflicting desires of women in the region.
In my conclusion, I address the ethnographic quality and significance of her work,
and its contribution to an understanding of the Caribbean
Richmond, Velma Bourgeois. Nordic Sagas as Children’s Literature : Victorian and Edwardian Retellings in Words and Pictures. McFarland, 2022
No full textInternational audienceBook review : Velma Bourgeois Richmond’s Nordic Sagas as Children Literature: Victorian and Edwardian Retellings in Words and Pictures (2023) is part of a series of books dedicated to “establish the richness and diversity of Late Victorian and Edwardian children’s books that retold literatures of national and ethnic heritage” (1). The title promises to examine the link between Nordic sagas and their numerous revisitations in children’s literature. In the introduction, the author writes that her book “establishes an alternative tradition, different in significant ways,” and the sheer number of collected texts and variations is ample evidence of her statement
Caribbean-Scottish Relations: Colonial and Contemporary Inscriptions in History, Language and Literature
No full textIn this book, Joan Anim Addo, Giovanna Covi, Velma Pollard, and Carla Sassi present the results of collaborative research on colonial and postcolonial relationships between the Caribbean and Scotland, promoted by the University of Trento, Italy, and coordinated by Giovanna Covi.
The four essays focus on the historical, cultural and literary representations of various aspects of this complicated interconnection: Joan Anim Addo’s on family history, Giovanna Covi’s on identities in African-Caribbean literature, Velma Pollard’s on Jamaican history and language, and Carla Sassi on Scottish literature. They discuss pivotal figures such as Mary Seacole, Charles and Hugh Mulzac, and texts by Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, James Robertson, by the anonymous Author of Marly, and by Una Marson, Claude McKay, Olive Senior, Jamaica Kincaid, and Nourbese Philip among others; they give voice to Juliana Mulzac through (auto)biography and to numerous other people through interviews and acts of re-memorying.
This book inaugurates the project to remap colonial history by accounting for the often paradoxical complexity of relations determined by imperial power; not only does it consider that which separates Scotland from the Caribbean, that which sets “Blackness” apart from “Scottishness”, but it also accepts an investigation of that which brings these two geopolitical areas and ethnic groups together. The inquiry results in a multi-vocal discourse that deconstructs national narratives, unveils colonial inscriptions, and releases the creolised images and words that demand full citizenship in the representation of the Circum-Atlanti
Post-world war two British migration to Australia: "the most pampered and protected of the intake?"
No full textDeposited with permission of the author. © 1995 Dr. Velma Joan JoynsonThe thesis seeks to find evidence to support the assumption that British migrants were the ‘pampered’ and ‘protected’ of the post-World War Two intake of migrants. Contemporary students of historical writing of the migration experience have virtually written British migrants out of the history of this era by such unsubstantiated assumptions.
The assimilationist construct of the 1940s to the 1960s that defined non-British migrants as assimilable, and British migrants as ‘kith’ and ‘kin’ was a vital component in the ideology of governments. It enabled them to carry out a migration programme the extent of which had no precedent in Australian history. Because social participation is vital in the process of admitting new knowledge, the construction of assimilability needed to be developed and legitimated on the basis of shared values. In effect the imposition of ‘new’ information promulgated by the institutions of society needed an empathetic response from the community, for the successful implementation of the programme. If the concept of non-British migrants as being assimilable could be ‘sold’ to the public, then it went without saying that British migrants would be the exemplar of trouble-free assimilation; they were ‘kith’ and ‘kin’. When British migrants did not fit the archetypal mould designed and fashioned for them by others, they had to be redefined for the continuing success of a policy. The thesis examines the experience of British migrants during the assimilationist era and how their settlement was affected by this ideological construct
Richmond, Velma Bourgeois. Nordic Sagas as Children’s Literature : Victorian and Edwardian Retellings in Words and Pictures. McFarland, 2022.
No full textVelma Bourgeois Richmond’s Nordic Sagas as Children Literature: Victorian and Edwardian Retellings in Words and Pictures (2023) is part of a series of books dedicated to “establish the richness and diversity of Late Victorian and Edwardian children’s books that retold literatures of national and ethnic heritage” (1). The title promises to examine the link between Nordic sagas and their numerous revisitations in children’s literature. In the introduction, the author writes that her book “establishes an alternative tradition, different in significant ways,” (1) and the sheer number of collected texts and variations is ample evidence of her statement
How communications media are used by sixth and seventh grade pupils and their families, 1969
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Negro attitudes in Negro novels, 1938
No full textWhen the Negro was brought by force to a New World, he was subjected to new conditions of life to which he was compelled to adjust himself. He later became one of America's greatest social problems and entered directly or indirectly in the conditioning and determining of personal and group behavior. True, he had been brought here for one purpose only and that was to insure the economic stability of his white masters. Learning, the rights of citizenship, home ownership, participation in governmental affairs and even the right to religious worship were fantastic notions not applicable to these hewers of wood and tillers of soil.1 But the New World underwent changes, and simultaneously the Negroes too. They became men entitled to all the rights attaining thereto. The new race was regarded in a new light. They were new observed politically, economically and educationally. Former masters found themselves trying to check the strides of former slaves, because this racial minority should not be allowed to corrupt the population stock and debase the social standards.2 However, with his freedom, and subsequent growth, the Negro developed certain attitudes toward his environment. In many situations the Negro had been too ignorant or too cowed by superior force to stage his case clearly and openly. It has been left to the educated Negroes of the twentieth century not only to become articulate, but to make art an ally of social protest. Consequently, many of the novels by Negroes have voiced the resentment and yearnings of the masses. The purpose of this paper is to record these attitudes of the Negro as they are revealed in the Negro novel, where there is mirrored a miniature replica of the world in which he lives. This study will be confined to thirty-three novels written by Negroes from 1900 to the present. The scope of the paper will include the general theme and thesis of the novel together with the opinions and attitudes of the characters who appear in the books. Our attention will be focused on those attitudes that grow out of the educational, religious, and economic life of the Negro, three of the most important aspects of the Negro's social environment. 1Benjamin E. Mays and Joseph W. Nicholson, The Negro's Church, New York, [1933], p. 1. 2Edward B. Reuter, The American Race Problem, New York, [1927], p. 2
Velma B. Pickett, Cheryl Black y Vicente Marcial Cerqueda, Gramática Popular del Zapoteco del Istmo, México, Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Binnizá, A.C./Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., 1998, 1998, 123 pp.. Dimensión Antropológica Vol. 14 Año 5 (1998) septiembre-diciembre
No full textEsta obra –que fue preparada por Velma B. Pickett y Cheryl Black, del Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, y Vicente Marcial Cerqueda, del Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Binnizá A.C. de Juchitán, Oaxaca- se publica por primera vez en español. La intención de esta Gramática popular es conocer la estructura del zapoteco del Istmo, conocido como diidxazá, en forma sencilla, clara y correcta para que facilite a los zapotecos, o binnizá, bilingües a comprender la estructura de su propia lengua, la cual es como cualquier otra del mundo
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