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Surviving the Weight of Tradition: Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy

Year 1997, Issue: 5, 19 - 26, 01.04.1997

Abstract

If, in the patriarchal system, femininity is defined in terms of lack and absence, in contrast to the male presence, as Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigaray contend see Moi for a discussion of Cixous’s and Irigaray’s work , the presence of the clitoris seems to challenge and endanger that presupposition. The female body may then be manipulated in such a way as to render that threatening presence ineffectual before the phallocentric power. The female body can be inscribed upon, becoming the text written by the male hand. This image of the female body as text reminds us of a well-known African-American character whose body is engraved by the white male and read by others, but not by herself. I am referring to Sethe in Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved 1987 . Sethe, Beloved’s mother, is “branded” on her back as a sign of possession and property. Her scars are read and interpreted as different shapes or figures by other people.

References

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  • -----, eds. The Post-colonial Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 1995.
  • Bass, Margaret Kent. “Alice’s Secret.” CLA Journal 38.1 (September 1994): 1-10.
  • Buckman, Alyson R. “The Body as a Site of Colonization: Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy.” Journal of American Culture 18.2 (1995) 89-94.
  • Kanneth, Kadiatu. “Feminism and the Colonial Body.” The Post-colonial Studies Reader. Eds. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and HelenTiffin. London: Routledge, 1995. 346-348.
  • Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Trumansburg, NY: The Crossing Press, 1984.
  • Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion. Oxford: Heinemann, 1991.
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  • Walker, Alice. Possessing the Secret of Joy. New York: Pocket Star Books, 1992.
  • ------ and Pratibha Parmar. Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1993.
Year 1997, Issue: 5, 19 - 26, 01.04.1997

Abstract

References

  • Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and HelenTiffin, eds., The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-colonial Literatures. London: Routledge, 1989.
  • -----, eds. The Post-colonial Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 1995.
  • Bass, Margaret Kent. “Alice’s Secret.” CLA Journal 38.1 (September 1994): 1-10.
  • Buckman, Alyson R. “The Body as a Site of Colonization: Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy.” Journal of American Culture 18.2 (1995) 89-94.
  • Kanneth, Kadiatu. “Feminism and the Colonial Body.” The Post-colonial Studies Reader. Eds. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and HelenTiffin. London: Routledge, 1995. 346-348.
  • Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Trumansburg, NY: The Crossing Press, 1984.
  • Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion. Oxford: Heinemann, 1991.
  • Moi, Toril. Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory. London: Routledge, 1985.
  • “Mutilacion Genital Femenina: El Reto de la Educacion.” Amnistia Internacional 17 (Feb.-Mar. 1996) : 13-20.
  • Nobile, Philip, ed., The New Eroticism. New York: Random House, 1970.
  • Petersen, Kirsten. “First Things First: Problems of a Feminist Approach to African Literature.” The Post-colonial Studies Reader. Eds. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and HelenTiffin. London: Routledge, 1995. 251-254.
  • Said, Edward. Orientalism. London: Routledge, 1978.
  • Thiam, Awa. Black Sisters, Speak Out: Feminism and Oppression in Black Africa. Trans. Dorothy S. Blair. London: Pluto, 1986.
  • Walker, Alice. Possessing the Secret of Joy. New York: Pocket Star Books, 1992.
  • ------ and Pratibha Parmar. Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1993.
There are 15 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Susana Vega This is me

Publication Date April 1, 1997
Published in Issue Year 1997 Issue: 5

Cite

MLA Vega, Susana. “Surviving the Weight of Tradition: Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, no. 5, 1997, pp. 19-26.

JAST - Journal of American Studies of Turkey