Brathwaite’s “The African Presence in Caribbean Literature” – Stephano Testasecca

This map is a geographical representation of the authors cited in Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s “The African Presence in Caribbean Literature”, Dadedalus. I have added some information present in Alison Donnell’s “’The African Presence in Caribbean Literature’ Revisited: Recovering the Politics of Imagined Co-Belonging 1930–2005″.

Brathwaite distinguishes four kinds of written African literature in the Caribbean.

1) Rhetorical
Without necessarily being very knowledgeable about Africa, the author use it as a mask, signal, or nomen.

2) African Survival
“A literature which deals quite consciously with African survival in the Caribbean society, but without necessarily making any attempt to interpret or reconnect them with the great tradition of Africa”

3) African expression
“[h]as its root in the folk, and which attempts to adapt or transform folk material into literary experiment”

4) Literature of reconnection
“written by Caribbean (and New World) writers who have lived in Africa and are attempting to relate that experience to the New World, or who are consciously reaching out to rebridge the gap with the spiritual heartland”

By clicking on the red X on the map, the reader can access the page about the specific country. Not all countries in the Caribbean are represented. Brathwaite’s essay does not separate authors by nationality, but rather groups them by themes, so this would be a different approach to the topic.

The interactive map can be found here:

https://umsfeanot.hotglue.me/?culturalmap