The Presence of Africanisms and the Representation of Blackness in Contemporary North American Literature Written by White Women

Abstract

[ES]El propósito de este trabajo fin de Máster es explorar la presencia de africanismos y la representación de la raza negra en la literatura contemporánea norteamericana escrita por escritoras blancas. Por ello, su objetivo principal de investigación es la demostración de que esta presencia africana sigue siendo un gran recurso de inspiración para escritoras blancas cuyas obras literarias han tenido un gran impacto en la literatura de los Estados Unidos.

[EN]The main aim of this MA dissertation is to explore the presence of Africanisms and the representation of blackness in contemporary North American Literature written by white women. Following the pattern of research encouraged by Morrison, this thesis analyzes “the ways in which a nonwhite, Africanist presence and personae have been constructed –invented– in the United States, and the literary uses this fabricated presence has served,” in order to define whiteness (Playing 90). It is a fact that the canonical literary scholarship has avoided the study of the canonical texts taking into consideration the racial perspective. However, this thesis contends that it is thanks to the representations of blackness created by canonical writers that they constructed and gave meaning to their whiteness as Americans. Thus it is the purpose of this thesis to investigate the ways in which the Africanist presence continues to be a source of inspiration for the contemporary North American white women writers, whose works have had a strong impact on the literature in the United States.