Creolizing the Metropole: Migrant Caribbean Identities in Literature and Film

Acknowledgments

xi As might be imagined in a work of this size and scope, there are many people and institutions to be thanked, without whom this work would even now not be complete. I would like to begin by acknowledging the generosity of the French Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for granting me the two sabbatical leaves, in the spring of 2003 and the fall of 2009, so that I could write the beginning and the ending of this book. I would also like to thank Jennifer Hamer, formerinterimheadoftheDepartmentofAfricanAmericanStudies,for the course release in the spring of 2009 that enabled me to speed up my writing schedule considerably. I have profited immensely from various intellectual exchanges with many colleagues in a number of departments, institutions, and countries . It would be impossible to cite them all, but I would like to make mention of Simone James Alexander, J. Michael Dash, Kwaku Korang, Renée Larrier, Françoise Lionnet, Kate Marsh, Brinda Mehta, Lydie Moudileno, Anjali Prabhu, Kamal Salhi, Pascale de Souza, Fionnghuala Sweeney, and Dominic Thomas. In the University of Illinois French Department, I would like to single out the department head, Professor KarenFresco;theformerheadoftheSchoolofLiteratures,Cultures,and Linguistics, Professor Doug Kibbee; and Professor Zsuzsanna Fagyal for continued professional support and wise counsel, as well as Brian B. Hunt for formatting the manuscript. Professor Jane Kuntz of the Center for Translation Studies and her husband, Professor Richard Powers of the Department of English and the Beckman Institute, know all too well Acknowledgments xii Acknowledgments how much being in their collegial company has enhanced my time in UIUC. Professor Peter Golato of the French Department and his wife, Professor Andrea Golato of the German Department, as well as Professor Waïl Hassan of the Program in Comparative Literature and his wife, Stephanie Hilger of the German Department, have been critical oases of friendship, hospitality, and extraordinary good humor over the years. I have been fortunate enough to have presented various iterations of some of these chapters as conference papers and to have benefited from the insights of numerous colleagues at a number of institutions and gatherings. These include the African Literature Association, the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD), the Université des Antilles et de la Guyane, the Brazilian Center for Caribbean Studies (CECAB), the Caribbean Philosophical Association, the Caribbean Studies Association, Cambridge University, Columbia University,theEcoleNormaleSupérieureandtheLaboratoiredel’école deshautesétudesensciencessocialesdel’ens,FloridaStateUniversityat Tallahassee, the Institute for Romance Studies, the University of Leeds, the AfroEuropa Research Institute at the Universidad de Leon, Spain, the University of London, the University of Liverpool, the University of Manchester, the Université de Montpellier Paul Valéry, the University of Naples “L’Orientale,” Northwestern University, Oxford University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Puerto Rico–Mayaguez, Purdue University, the University of Stirling, the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the World Universities Network. Portions of chapter 3 appeared as “All Skin’ Teeth Is Not Grin”: Performing Caribbean Diasporic Identity in a Postcolonial Metropolitan Frame,” in Callaloo 30.2 (Spring 2007): 575–93, “Callaloo and the CulturesandLettersoftheBlackDiaspora : ASpecialThirtiethAnniversary Issue.” I am grateful to The Johns Hopkins University Press for permission to reprint. From a more personal perspective, this book would certainly not havebeenwrittenwithoutthehelpoffriendsandcolleagues,particularly on the London side. Here I would like to thank Cynthia and Winston Ramsey and their children, Laura and William, for their invaluable in- Acknowledgments xiii sightsintotheCaribbeanexperienceinLondonandformaintainingthat international Antiguan connection; Professor Rita Christian of London Metropolitan University for her irreplaceable assistance in tracking down library materials; Professor Margaret Byron of King’s College, London, for being willing to share thoughts, tips, and research resources withanunknownCaribbeancolleague;SarahLadipoManyikaforintroducingmetothecriticalsociologicalperspectiveprovidedbyherbrother David’sPh.D.dissertation;andmysisterArlene,herhusband,Greg,and their son, André, for always providing me with the warmest of London homes away from home, being the most generous of hosts and cultural guides, and allowing me to experience firsthand and discuss at length various generations and iterations of “Caribbean Britishness.” My inestimable thanks and eternal gratitude (and a giant big-up) go tomysister-in-law,NelleenRogersMurdoch,andtotheRightReverend Bishop Dr. Kingsley O’R. Lewis of the Moravian Church, Eastern West Indies Province, both in Antigua, for tracking down the biographical details of our late fellow countryman Kelso Cochrane in such a timely manner. From all accounts, Kelso Cochrane was born in the village of Johnson’s Point in Antigua. He was baptized...