Date of Award
Summer 8-2016
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English
First Advisor
Lingyan Yang, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Mike Sell, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Susan Comfort, Ph.D.
Abstract
This dissertation applies my coined concept, “the ocularity of the self,” which refers to how individuals constantly reconfigure their “lens” to the extent that the restructuring of their image results in acceptance of societal ocular dominance. Hence, the privileging of society’s metaphorical eye over the individual’s metaphorical eye, skews the acuity and validity of his or her self-image. I examine how the fiction and non-fiction prose narratives of Caribbean women authors Michelle Cliff, Oonya Kempadoo, Patricia Powell, and Kerry Young address sociolinguistics and creolity, the causes and effects of self-commodification, and the unmasking and unsexing of gender and sexuality. I show how these issues are influenced by constructed Caribbean “islands of the mind” that need to be replaced with self-determined mindsets as there is an effort to reshape the “ocularity of the self.”
Recommended Citation
Cox, Margaret, "Caribbean “Islands of the Mind”: Reshaping the Ocularity of the Self" (2016). Theses and Dissertations (All). 1401.
https://knowledge.library.iup.edu/etd/1401