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Confronting Power, Theorizing Gender This page intentionally left blank Confronting Power, Theorizing Gender Interdisciplinary Perspectives in the Caribbean Edited by Eudine Barriteau University of the West Indies Press Jamaica • Barbados • Trinidad and Tobago University of the West Indies Press 1A Aqueduct Flats Mona Kingston 7 Jamaica www.uwipress.com ©2003 by The University of the West Indies Press All rights reserved. Published 2003 07 06 05 543 CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA Confronting power, theorizing gender: interdisciplinary perspectives in the Caribbean / edited by Eudine Barriteau. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN: 976-640-136-5 1. Feminist psychology - Caribbean, English-speaking. 2. Sex differences (Psychology) - Caribbean, English-speaking. 3. Sex role - Caribbean, English-speaking. 4. Power (Social Sciences) - Caribbean, English-speaking. 5. Women in development - Caribbean, English-speaking. I. Barriteau, Eudine. BF201.4.C66 2003 155.3'33 Cover and book design by Robert Harris Set in Sabon 10.5/14.5 x 27 Printed in Canada Dedicated to the memory of my beloved nephew Rene Wilbur Barriteau 15 September 1973-11 October 2001 Gone too soon . . . For Rene Maybe the body's husk is but a chrysalis we weave and wrap to warm our naked spirit, that at some point undresses, and we burn into the depths as stars Maybe our varied and temporary beauty is but grass; is harvested some importunate and utterly impetuous day Only to scatter the seeds of our bright souls into the welcoming and everlasting nebulae - Margaret D. Gill This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements / x Abbreviations / xii Part I Introduction 1 Confronting Power, Theorizing Gender in the Commonwealth Caribbean / 3 Eudine Barriteau Part II Epistemological Inquiries, Feminist Restlessness 2 Theorizing the Shift from "Woman" to "Gender" in Caribbean Feminist Discourse: The Power Relations of Creating Knowledge / 27 Eudine Barriteau 3 Women and Difference in Caribbean Gender Theory: Notes towards a Strategic Universalist Feminism / 46 Donna St Hill 4 A Feminist's Oxymoron: Globally Gender-Conscious Development / 75 Michelle Rowley viii Contents Part III Theorizing Historiography, Historicizing Gender and Sexuality 5 A Symbiotic Visiting Relationship: Caribbean Feminist Historiography and Caribbean Feminist Theory / 101 Patricia Mohammed 6 "How Our Lives Would Be Affected by the Custom of Having Several Wives": The Intersection between African History and Gender Studies in the Caribbean / 126 Richard A. Goodridge 7 Perfect Property: Enslaved Black Women in the Caribbean / 142 Hilary McD. Beckles 8 Theorizing Sexual Relations in the Caribbean: Prostitution and the Problem of the "Exotic" / 159 Kamala Kempadoo Part IV Gender, Genre and Cultural/Literary Discourse 9 "What Have We to Celebrate?" Gender, Genre and Diaspora Identities in Two Popular Cultural Texts / 189 Jane Bryce 10 Feminist Literary Theories and Literary Discourse in Two George Lamming Texts / 206 Margaret Gill Contents ix Part V Gender and Power in the Public Domain: Feminist Theorizing of Citizenship 11 Beyond the Bill of Rights: Sexing the Citizen / 231 Tracy Robinson 12 Theorizing the Gendered Analysis of Work in the Commonwealth Caribbean / 262 Ann Denis 13 Gender and Power in Contemporary Society: A Case-Study of Student Government / 283 Elsa Leo-Rhyme Part VI Gender and Power in the Public Domain: Deconstruct