Reconfigurations of Caribbean History: Michelle Cliff's Rebel Women

"Reconfigurations of Caribbean History: Michelle Cliff's Rebel Women" examines Cliff's re-visioning of Caribbean history in an effort to elucidate Caribbean women's active role in building Caribbean nations. In Abeng, Cliff reinvents what Honor Ford Smith calls a "rebel consciousness" through representations of female rebels who refuse to "know duh place." Cliff's rebel women combat and resist traditional representations of womanhood, patriarchy, colonial culture, and homophobia. The genealogy of the "fighting spirit" of Caribbean women is registered in Abeng to ensure the longevity of their acts of resistance but more importantly to serve as an instructional guide for younger generations of Caribbean women.