CARIBIOLIT

"Caribbean Biopolitics of Literature. Shaping Life, History and Community through the Transformative Power of Literature"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'This research is located at the intersection of philosophy and literary studies – Biopolitics, Postcolonial Studies and Caribbean Studies – and proposes an innovative methodology to investigate the relationship between literature and power/politics. The project is to investigate the specific ways in which, since the 1960s, major Caribbean writers (Glissant, Condé, Harris, Walcott) have written about the unspeakable violence, domination and disruption, linked to foundational issues, such as genocide, slavery, colonialism and dictatorships. Simultaneously, this has given rise to new forms of affirmative biopolitics, such as métissage and creolization, and produced new contemporary directions for individual and communal life through work on language, imagination and myth. The aim is to enrich the critical debate on postcolonial Caribbean literature by introducing the issues raised by the reflection on Biopolitics, which have so far been ignored by postcolonial critics, in order to produce new insights on the relationship between language, life, history and politics. Biopolitics investigates the complexities of the link between life and forms, origin and history and offers a great innovative potential for literary theory, suggesting new criteria and methodologies for reading the relations between texts and the world in an increasingly complex and challenging global society. The hypothesis is that Caribbean philosophic, poetic and fictional writing has tried to conceive a reversal of the immunity characterizing the genealogy of Western modernity, into new forms of community and towards a real affirmative biopolitics. The European community and Research Area are inextricably linked to the Caribbean, both by a historical legacy and enduring contemporary links, and due to its attention to power hierarchies in a precise cultural and historical contextualization, this study will be of benefit to political and cultural specialists working on European-Caribbean relations.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

An EU-funded project looked at biopolitics, postcolonial studies and Caribbean studies in order to propose an innovative methodology for investigating the relationship between literature and politics. New ways of looking at the relationship between texts and the world can be created and applied to better understand an increasingly complex global society.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Since the 1960s, major Caribbean writers have written about violence and issues such as genocide, slavery, colonialism and dictatorships.

In tandem, new forms of biopolitics have arisen and formed a direction for life through language, imagination and myth. Since biopolitics examines the link between life, origin and history, it holds immense potential for literary theory. As a result of this theoretical intersection, innovative methodological criteria can be established and applied in literary analysis.

In order to enrich the critical debate on postcolonial Caribbean literature, the CARIBIOLIT project introduced issues raised by the reflection on biopolitics that had until now been ignored by postcolonial critics. More specifically, the project connected French and Italian theoretical reflections to the primarily Anglophone field of postcolonial studies. Over the course of two years, the work involved training and outreach activities, and texts were analysed in English, French and Italian.

Journal articles on race, violence and biopolitics were produced, as were a series of thematically linked articles within African, American, Caribbean and European contexts. Results can serve as tools for political and cultural specialists in future research on European-Caribbean relations and as a reaffirmation of biopolitics.