Opacity: Gender, Sexuality, Race and the 'Problem' of Identity in Martinique
... For once, popular culture and academia are, for the most part, in agreement on this topic: The Caribbean is generally depicted as a region whose peoples are not tolerant of homosexuality (Reddock 2004). Men are socialized to think of any form of effeminacy or "soft" behavior as weak and deplorable-accusations of "battyman," chichi man, buller, macoume, or anti-man are considered to be the worst insults possible (Chevannes 2001, Crichlow 2004, Dann 1987, Lewis 2003, Murray 2002. Certain genres of Caribbean music are gaining an international reputation for being aggressively homophobic (Gutzmore 2004, Mohammed 2004. ...
... On the other hand, the long-term and widespread presence of sexual diversity in the Caribbean is increasingly well documented and analyzed (i.e. Glave 2008, Kempadoo 2004, Murray 2002, Padilla 2007, Wekker 2006. From my first visit to Barbados in 1998 until my most recent one in 2009, I have readily found evidence of this diversity: A few days after arriving in Barbados for the first time, my friend Joyce 2 , a heterosexual woman in her 60s who owns a rumshop and lives in Brockton 3 , a working-class section of Bridgetown, introduced me to her dressmaker, Cynthia, who lived in her own small home a few blocks away and later told me that "us queens have been here forever, darling." ...
This article has three objectives: 1) to provide a brief and partial overview of the complex socio-sexual terrain of Barbados, primarily from the perspective of Barbadian (Bajan) "queens" (effeminate homosexual men, some of whom dress and act like women), such documentation being necessary given the paucity of social science research that currently exists on same-gender sexuality in the Caribbean; 2) to analyze how and why a particular sexual subject position—the queen—appears to occupy a marginally acceptable and relatively visible position in Bajan public culture while normatively gendered "gay"- identified individuals are denigrated and absent in this domain; and 3) to analyze how and why Bajan sexual subjects like "gays" and "queens" do not mirror Euro-American sexual subjectivities and their relationships to hegemonic socio-sexual values. Particularly relevant in the Bajan sexscape are racialized intersections of gender and class structured through discourses of respect and reputation.
... A doctoral research being funded by the National Agency for AIDS Research (ANRS) about constructions of masculinity and HIV (Joëlle Kabile, CRPLC/GESA) explores how the standards of the West Indian male socialization hinder or facilitate the relationship with protection against STDs. Several questions arise: for Martinican men, how do the reification of the partner and the need to claim his desire for women (Murray 1999(Murray , 2000(Murray , 2002 impact the appropriation of the body of the male or female partner? Moreover, although male speech about sexuality seems constantly present in the public space, and masculinity is expressed ostentatiously, the taboo of intimacy (Cantacuzène 2013) hampers all liberating emotional speech (other than anger): indeed, for Martinican men, emotions are associated with unacceptable vulnerability. ...
The issue of gender emerged quite recently in French Caribbean sociology. For decades, it has been tackled, and often hidden, within other disciplines - mainly Anthropology, but also Demography, Public Policy, Historical Demography, the history of slavery, and Women’s history – and other fields or labels, like family structures, fertility, the status of women, sexuality. However, a specific field of sociological research on gender issues started really to develop since the end of the last century through the works of the Research Group «Gender and Society in the French Antilles » (setting in the Centre de recherche sur les pouvoirs locaux dans la Caraïbe).Through surveys on French Caribbean familial structures, domestic violence, cultural studies, the GESA questions gendered stereotypes and socialization, under the prism of a colonial legacy, strongly rooted in these French non independent territories.
... But Walcott is not the only Caribbean writer to invoke the cultural multiplicity created by colonialism as the springboard for the creation of a new and unique Caribbean identity. Contemporary French-Caribbean créolistes also emphasize a Caribbean identity that ―embraces all strands that have contributed to the making of Antillean‖ (Price and Price 1997: 7, cited in Murray 2002: 71). In addition to Edouard Glissant, one of the forefathers of the ―créoliste movement,‖ who stresses the multi-ramified, syncretic mosaic of the Caribbean, Chamoiseau and Confiant glorify the creative mélange of the Caribbean, using Deleuze and Guattari's (1980) metaphor of the rhizome: All these people precipitated into the crucible of the Caribbean archipelago in which no synthesis occurred but rather a kind of hesitant métissage, always contested, always chaotic, carrying anthropological densities, across vaporous borders, bathing in a creole space that was almost amniotic (Chamoiseau and Confiant 1991: 51). ...
This paper investigates how the political merges with the literary in Derek Walcott’s poetry, using the poems “A Latin Primer” and “The Light of the World” as primary examples. In these two poems, Walcott explores the colonial wounds of the Caribbean region and the various consequences of colonialism for the forging of Caribbean’s contemporary identities. He proposes a model of Caribbeanness that values racial multiplicity and cross-dialogues between cultures, including, perhaps problematically, the European cultural tradition, as fertilizing. For Walcott, poetic creativity serves to truly unify and find points of connections in a disjointed postcolonial world. This paper examines the implications of Walcott’s stances on postcolonial identity politics and compares Walcott to several French Caribbean authors. RÉSUMÉ: Cet article explore comment la polique et la littérature fusionnent dans la poésie du Prix Nobel de Littérature Derek Walcott, utilisant les poèmes “A Latin Primer” et “The Light of the World” comme exemples principaux. Dans ces deux poèmes, Walcott analyse les blessures coloniales encourues par les Antilles et les différentes conséquences du colonialisme pour la création des identités antillaises contemporaines. Il propose un modèle d’antillanité qui célèbre la multiplicité raciale et les dialogues fertilisateurs entre les cultures, y compris la culture européenne, donnant peut-être ainsi matière à controverse. Pour Walcott, la créativité poétique sert à unifier et connecter un monde postcolonial disjoint. Cet article examine les différentes implications des positions de Walcott concernant les politiques d’identités postcoloniales et compare Walcott à certains auteurs des Antilles francophones.
... 18 Immigrants are a good example of such communities. Some use stories to resist images forced upon them by the dominant society (Murray 2002;Schely-Newman 2002;Scott 1990), while others do so in order to present a new identity (Meerwarth et al. 2007;Weldu 2007). 19 In summary, people can use oral stories as an effective, subtle, and nonaggressive instrument of social criticism, especially members of communities who wish to express unfavorable views about hegemonic groups or to reject the negative images they impose. ...
The Karaites are a Jewish group formed between the 8th and 10th centuries. Throughout their history, they lived in constant confrontation with the usually larger and stronger group of Rabbani’im (the Hebrew Karaite name for non-Karaite Jews) over the definition of Jewishness. This confrontation threatened to continue in Israel following Karaite immigration in the 1950s and 1960s. As the politically weaker of the two groups, the Karaites were forced to contend with their double status in Israel–Israeli Jews according to the Law of Return, yet questionable Jews in Rabbani eyes. This threatened not only their perceived Jewish identity but also their “Israeliness” and national belonging. This paper analyzes stories recounted by members of a Karaite moshav (a smallholder cooperative village) in Israel, which express the social position the community views as fitting and presents the teller’s portrayal of its fraught position in Israeli society. It will show that, while describing life on the moshav over the years, these stories convey ideas about belonging, Zionism and Jewishness. This reading into the stories reveals the Karaite’s version of their identity, as opposed to that of their Rabbani neighbors who challenge their Jewishness, offering a case study in the cultural construction of a marginalized identity.
... That post-emancipation nationalism, poised to counteract the exclusion of the majority of the population during slavery and colonial times, may have privileged the rights of the majority without guaranteeing the rights of ethnic and sexual minorities (Caribbean Vulnerable Communities, 2011). A heteronormative and hegemonic model of masculinity is central to the socialization process and the cultural, racial and national identity of many Caribbean countries (Chevannes, 2001;Murray, 2002). Heteronormativity can be defined as the institutions, structures, practices, identities, and understanding that legitimize and hierarchize heterosexuality as the normal, natural, and only socially and morally accepted form of sexuality (Berlant & Warner, 1998;Rubin, 1992). ...
Limited research exists about gay men in the Caribbean region. A qualitative study was conducted to characterize gay men in Barbados, their HIV risk, and the impact of stigma on their lives. The 2 main groups of gay men ("bougies" and "ghetto") reflect social class and level of "outness" in broader society. Homophobia, stigma, and buggery (sodomy) laws increase their HIV vulnerability. The need for anti-discrimination legislation and tools for self-development were identified for gay men to realize their strengths, develop their self-worth, and protect themselves from HIV.
... In this regard, regional conferences such as the 2005 AsiaPacifiQueer conference, held in Thailand, may prove more effective than " global " conferences and organizations that always seem to end up anchored in the United States or Europe. With regard to emerging regional literatures , the two areas that have generated the broadest body of scholarship are Southeast Asia (Blackwood 1998, Butt 2005, Dwyer 2000, Graham 2003, Jackson & Cook 1999, Johnson 1997, Marin 1996, Morris 1997, Peletz 1996, Sears 1996, Sinnott 2004, Sullivan & Jackson 1999, Tan 1995, Teh 2002, Wieringa 2002, Wilson 2004) and Latin America/the Caribbean (Alexander 2006, Babb 2003, Carrier 1995, Carrillo 2002, Girman 2004, Kempadoo 2004, Kulick 1998, Lumsden 1996, Murray 2002, Parker 1999, Prieur 1998, Schifter 1999, Weismantel 2001, Wekker 2006, Wilson 1995, Wright 2004). Although the range of topics addressed in each of these regional literatures is expansive , one can detect variations in emphasis. ...
This review examines anthropological research on sexuality published in English since 1993, focusing on work addressing lesbian women, gay men, and transgendered persons, as well as on the use of history, linguistics, and geography in such research. Reviewing the emergence of regional literatures, it investigates how questions of globalization and the nation have moved to the forefront of anthropological research on questions of sexuality. The essay asks how questions of intersectionality, inclusion, and difference have shaped the emergence of a queer anthropology or critical anthropology of sexuality, with special reference to the relationship between sexuality and gender.
Cet article s’intéresse au milieu gai antillais de Paris et cherche à expliquer comment des hommes gais noirs originaires de Martinique et de Guadeloupe vivent des formes multiples de domination liées à la « race », à l’ethnicité et à la sexualité, aussi bien dans leurs sociétés insulaires d’origines que dans la capitale. Ce texte a aussi à cœur de mettre en lumière les stratégies de résistance qu’ils emploient afin d’affirmer un sentiment identitaire particulièrement composite et labile. Cette réflexion se fonde sur une ethnographie réalisée en 2008-2009, au sein d’un groupe d’amis qui fréquentaient régulièrement les boîtes de nuit ciblant une clientèle catégorisée comme « black ». L’objectif est de retracer les trajectoires de ces hommes et de saisir la nature du contexte de migration postcolonial au sein duquel ils s’auto-identifiaient en construisant un réseau antillais noir et gai des deux côtés de l’Atlantique. La notion de consubstantialité (plus que celle d’intersectionnalité) permet de rendre compte de la manière dont la relative intolérance envers les personnes LGBT aux Antilles et les processus singuliers de racialisation auxquels ces hommes sont sujets à Paris façonnent les modalités à travers lesquelles ils se définissent et négocient des espaces relativement sûrs, tout en érigeant des barrières afin de se différencier d’autres figures d’altérité sur la base de la « race » ou de l’ethnicité.
This essay focuses on the Caribbean cultural practices used by queer diasporic people to make space in the Toronto Queer Pride Parade. It locates the specific ways Trinidad Carnival traditions of resistance and vernacular are subverted and rearranged by Pelau MasQUEERade, a self‐identified Caribbean queer diasporic group comprised of Black queer and queer people of color. The author draws on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with Pelau MasQUEERade to illustrate how they create Caribbean queer diasporic space using a queer jouvay practice that consists of putting together different ingredients and components to queer and transform Trinidad Carnival for Pride. Pelau MasQUEERade enables new meanings and affiliations to be made by reaching out to Trinidad Carnival as part of its way of making Caribbean queer diasporic space in Canada.
Transactional sexualities (TS) include a variety of sexual practices that lead to material and/or financial advantages that are explicitly or implicitly expected from partners/clients. These range from prostitution in the strict sense (“extraordinary” sexuality) to sexual-economic exchanges with a “resourceful” partner (“ordinary” sexuality). While previous research has focused exclusively on prostitution as practiced by foreign women in Martinique, this study explores TS sexual practices more broadly. The TS of both foreign and local women in Martinique, homosexual men, heterosexuals, and transwomen reveal sexual behaviors that take many forms, including several that incite stigmatization and backlash, while others appear more socially accepted. Which practices face the most resistance? How is that resistance expressed? What strategies do stigmatized or potentially stigmatized people deploy to combat it? These questions contribute to broader reflections on the role of gender in defining sexuality in Martinique. Is this a situation in which the sexual double standard defined by social sexual roles (gender and the social relation it implies) is contested or is this a situation in which it is reinforced through backlash and gender policing?
Since the early 1990s Canada has become a primary destination for individuals who make refugee claims on the basis of sexual orientation persecution. However, until recently, there was little research focusing on this growing component of Canadian urban queer communities and their experiences of the refugee claim process, and their integration and adaptation to Canadian society. This paper, based on interviews with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) refugee claimants and participation in LGBT newcomer support groups in Toronto, explores the formal and informal processes, spaces and practices through which LGBT refugee claimants learn about the Canadian nation-state, citizenship and queer identities and communities, and in so doing enter a space/moment of becoming a 'becoming' refugee as they learn the social, cultural, and bureaucratic processes and norms of the Canadian refugee apparatus.
Women televangelists from the US have garnered a significant following among people in various parts of the world, including Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. This paper looks at the influence of female televangelists, Juanita Bynum, Joyce Meyer and Paula White in Kingston, JA. Based upon ethnographic research in Jamaica, I argue that women televangelists have gained tremendous national and international followings based in part upon sharing their experiences of sexual trauma and redemption. These “gospels of sexual redemption,” should be read in light of popularly discussed gospels of prosperity because the economic changes that have occurred under neoliberal policies and massive urbanization have wreaked havoc on both the social and sexual lives of women. These gospels are thus not mutually exclusive but in many ways interconnected.
Becoming a man again, in a post-slavery and matrifocal French caribbean world
Guadeloupe and Martinique, the French Caribbean, are societies which were built in slavery and are based on a race, class and gender hierarchy. Matrifocality is known to be a singular family system that specifies those islands, and in which learning sexual and parental roles depends on a respectability/ reputation double rule, coming from the colonial period. This paper aims at demonstrating how a mother-headed education, the community social control and a widespread and castrating representation of slavery traditionally manage to prepare black boys to become lovers and runners much more than fathers or husbands. Actually, they are summoned to prove their virility, by showing their physical and sexual strength, while hiding their lack of social power. The paper also questions the contemporary evolutions of those manliness roles, as well as sex and gender new images, for example in rap culture and pornography videos.
This article considers how the field of Caribbean Studies constructed and defined its objects of study. It critically reflects on the history of the field, drawing mainly from the discipline of anthropology but also attending to the institutional sites of scholarly production and their impact on the worlding of the Caribbean as an 'area' fit for 'area studies'. As it does so, the paper considers the limits of the modes of fact-making implicit in Caribbean Studies, the scalar imaginaries bound up in it, and their implications for the problems of generalizability and distinctiveness subtending social inquiry and 'area' formations more broadly.
Historically, within anthropology, sport has been perceived as an inconsequential form of entertainment spectacle, seemingly at variance with, and secondary to, broader political and social discourses. An analysis of these four works, however, provides an opportunity to explore shifting representations surrounding issues of culture change and identity production within the anthropology of sport, with an emphasis on three inter-related themes: theories and methodologies for representing the intersections between culture change and sport;historical shifts in modes of representation and writing within anthropological sports studies, andrepresentations of identities within sport.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.