Deconstructing Ethnic and Gendered Power Relations in Elizabeth Acevedo’s slam poems “Hair”, “Afro-Latina”, “Spear” & “Unforgettable”

Heleni Smuha
Persbericht

Slam poetry; de stem van de ongehoorden

U kent ze wel, die hippe mensen die in de coffeeshop om de hoek samenkomen en beurtelings eigen geschreven gedichten voordragen, waarna het enthousiaste publiek een winnaar uitroept. Slam poetry – of slam poëzie – is ongetwijfeld aan een opmars bezig in het Westen.

Deze hedendaagse poëzievorm grijpt terug naar de wortels van de poëzietraditie, waarbij het orale aspect opnieuw centraal komt te staan. De twintigste eeuw kende al meerdere artistieke bewegingen waarin ‘performance poetry’ herleefde. Denk maar aan Walt Whitman's poëzie lezingen, of de gedichten van de Beatniks. Slam poëzie zelf ontstond echter pas in de jaren tachtig van de vorige eeuw, toen een Amerikaanse bouwvakker, Mark Smith, de eerste slam poëzie sessie organiseerde in een jazz café in Chicago. Sindsdien werden in crescendo slams georganiseerd, waarin opvallend veel minderheidsgroepen sociale problematieken aankaarten en met elkaar in debat treden aan de hand van ritmische samenstellingen van woorden.

In de scriptie “Deconstructing Ethnic and Gendered Power Relations in Elizabeth Acevedo’s slam poems ‘Hair’, ‘Afro-Latina’, ‘Spear’ & ‘Unforgettable’” worden vier slam gedichten van Elizabeth Acevedo – een jonge Noord-Amerikaanse slam poet van Afro-Dominicaanse origine – uitvoerig geanalyseerd. Slam poëzie is voor Acevedo – net als voor vele andere leden van minderheidsgroepen – dé manier om letterlijk en figuurlijk haar stem hoorbaar te maken. Haar gedichten kaarten voornamelijk de onrechtvaardigheden en identiteitscrisissen aan waarmee jonge Amerikaanse vrouwen behorend tot de Afro-Latino gemeenschap geconfronteerd worden. Vrouwen, Latinos en Afrikanen ondergaan al eeuwenlang een proces van onderdrukking. Acevedo roept niet enkel op om deze onderdrukking te bestrijden, maar formuleert zelf ook voorstellen om de blank-bevoorrechte patriarchie af te schaffen.

Naast de prachtige en beklijvende beschrijvingen over persoonlijke ervaringen van gender en etnische discriminatie, pleit de schrijfster in haar poëzie voor een heropleving van inheemse tradities en cultuur. Vele mensen uit etnisch-benadeelde gemeenschappen die naar de Verenigde Staten migreren vervangen hun originele culturele tradities namelijk snel met die van de Amerikanen. Dit proces van assimilatie zou volgens Acevedo discriminatie in stand houden, omdat de taal en cultuur van de niet-dominante groep dan als minderwaardig worden ervaren. Acevedo’s teksten wijzen onder andere op de gezaghebbende rol van scholen en de media in de creatie en verspreiding van gender en etnische stereotypen, alsook op de even belangrijke invloed die zij kunnen hebben om de aanzet te geven tot een positieve herevaluering van minderheden.

In de literair-academische wereld wordt slam poëzie vandaag nog vaak als marginale literatuur gezien. Daarbovenop blijft kunst van vrouwen – in het bijzonder vrouwen met Afrikaanse roots – dikwijls ongehoord en ondergewaardeerd. Dit onderzoek wil daar verandering in brengen en toont de kracht van dit literair genre aan de hand van vier straffe gedichten die een ultra-relevant discours tot stand brengen, vooral in ons hedendaags Trump tijdperk.

Bibliografie

“About.” Junot Díaz, 2017, www.junotdiaz.com/about/. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

“About Liz.” Acevedo Poetry, [circa 2016], www.acevedopoetry.com/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2016.

Acevedo, Elizabeth. Beastgirl & Other Origin Myths. YesYes Books, 2016.

---. “Re: Form Submission - New Form - Questions Academic Literary Analysis of your Work (poetry).” Received by Heleni Smuha, 14 Feb. 2017.

---. “Tales Of a Former Girl Rapper.” Edited by Melissa de la Cruz, The Huffington Post, 1 March 2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tales-of-a-former-young-female-rapper_us_5…. Accessed 3 March 2017.

Adebisi, Foluke. “Unforgettable by Pages Matam, Elizabeth Acevedo and G. Yamazawa.” Wordpress, 13 Jan. 2016, folukeifejola.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/unforgettable-by-pages-matam-elizabeth-acevedo-and-g-yamazawa/. Accessed 26 March 2017.

Aponte, Sarah. “Dominican Migration to the United States, 1970-1997: An Annotated Bibliography.” CUNY Academic Works, 1999, academicworks.cuny.edu/dsi_pubs/11/.  Accessed 27 Nov. 2016.

Arreola, Cristina. “This Junot Díaz Speech is a Powerful Call-to-Action to all Latinx Voters”. Bustle, Nov. 2, 2016. www.bustle.com/articles/192833-this-junot-diaz-speech-is-a-powerful-cal…. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, editors. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures. Routledge, 1989.

---. Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2000.

---. The Post-colonial Studies            Reader. Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. www.mohamedrabeea.com/books/book1_3985.pdf. Accessed 11 Dec. 2016.

Bekers, Elisabeth. “History of English Literature II.” Sept. – Dec. 2015, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Lecture.

Buffington, Sean T. “Dominican Americans.” Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Jeffrey Lehman,  2nd  ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2000, pp. 525-533.

Burrows, Alyssa. “Slam Poetry: A Brief History from Chicago to Seattle.” HistoryLink Essay, 16 July 2001, www.historylink.org/File/3448. Accessed 27 Nov. 2016.

 

Bolívar Espinosa, Jonathan. “Dominican, Black, and Afro-Latino: A Confession/Dominicano, Negro, y Afro-Latino: Una Confesión.” La Galería Magazine, 10 Apr. 2015, www.lagaleriamag.com/dominican-black-and-afro-latino-a-confessiondomini…. Accessed 2 Dec. 2016.

Boyle, Louise. “Cleveland 'House of Horrors' Survivors Detail their Decade of Abuse and How Ariel Castro Raped them up to 5 Times a Day - The Only Time they Were Released From their Chains.” Daily Mail, 28 April 2015, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3057392/Cleveland-house-horrors-surviv…. Accessed 3 May 2017.

Calcagno, Justine. “Trends in Poverty Rates among Latinos in New York City and the United States, 1990 - 2011.” CUNY, Nov. 2013, www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/CUNY-Graduate-Center/PDF/Centers/CLACLS/T…. Accessed 23 May 2017.

Childs, Peter, and Roger Fowler, editors. Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms. Routledge, 2006, abs.kafkas.edu.tr/upload/219/The_Routledge_Dictionary_of_Literary_Terms.pdf. Accesses on 28 March 2017.

Clifton, Lucille. "Homage to My Hair." The Iowa Review, vol. 6, no. 2, 1975, p. 22, JSTOR, ir.uiowa.edu/iowareview/vol6/iss2/28. Accessed 18 May 2017.

Coene, Gily. “Inleiding tot de vrouwen- en genderstudies.” Feb. – June 2016, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Lecture.

Coppoc, James W. “The ethos of slam poetry.” Retrospective Theses and Dissertations, 2004, lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=15447&context=rtd. Accessed 27 Nov. 2016.

Cuddon, J. A. , editor. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory. Revised by C. E. Preston, 4th ed., Penguin Books, 2000.

Davis, Shanice. “Poet Elizabeth Acevedo on Why #BlackLivesMatter should Matter to Latinos.” Vibe,  2:10 pm, July 11, 2016, www.vibe.com/2016/07/poet-elizabeth-acevedo-why-black-lives-matter-matt…. Acessed 23 Feb. 2017.

Dingfelder, Sadie. “D.C.’s Beltway Poetry Slam triumphs at the National Poetry Slam.”. The Washington Post, 16 Aug. 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2014/08/15/d-c-s-beltway-poetry-slam-…. Accessed 26 Oct. 2016.

DiPaolo Loren, Diana. “Corporeal Concerns: Eighteenth-Century Casta Paintings and Colonial Bodies in Spanish Texas.” Historical Archaeology, vol. 41, no. 1, 2007, pp. 23–36. JSTOR,  www.jstor.org/stable/25617423. Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.

 

Dowling, Susan J. “Constructing Identity Identity Construction.” MA Thesis, Georgia State U. Scholarworks, 16 Aug. 2014, scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1089&context=art_design_theses. Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.

Eison Simmons, Kimberly. Reconstructing Racial Identity and the African Past in the Dominican Republic. University Press of Florida, 2009, MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/chapter/647859. Accessed 13 April 2017.

“Elizabeth Acevedo - ‘Afro-Latina’.” YouTube, uploaded by SlamFind, 21 Sept. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPx8cSGW4k8. Accessed 17 Sept. 2016.

“Elizabeth Acevedo - ‘Hair’.” YouTube, uploaded by SlamFind, 2 July 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=0svS78Nw_yY. Accessed 17 Sept. 2016.

“Elizabeth Acevedo - ‘Spear’ (NPS 2014).” YouTube, uploaded by Button Poetry, 22 Jan. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1VzreZwsMA. Accessed 17 Sept. 2016.

F. A. [full name untracable] “El nuevo borrón de Chile.” Fuerza Nacional-Identitaria, 31 Aug. 2016, fni.cl/csm/el-nuevo-borron-de-chile. Accessed 23 Dec. 2016.

Fearon, James D. “What Is Identity (As We Now Use The Word)?” Stanford U, 1999, web.stanford.edu/group/fearon-research/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/What-is-Identity-as-we-now-use-the-word-.pdf. Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.

Gatita [forum nickname]. “prieto.” Urban Dictionary, 5 June 2006, www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=Gatita. Accessed on 27 March 2017.

Gioia, Dana. “Disappearing Ink: Poetry at the End of Print Culture.” Hudson Review, vol 56, no.1, Spring 2013, pp. 21-49.

Golash-Boza, Tanya and Darity Jr, William. “Latino Racial Choices: the Effects of Skin Colour and Discrimination on Latinos’ and Latinas’ Racial Self-Identifications.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, Routledge, 2008, pp. 1-38, doi: 10.1080/01419870701568858. Accessed 10 April 2017.

Gregory, Helen. “(Re)presenting Ourselves: Art, Identity and Status in U.K. Poetry Slam.” Oral Tradition, vol. 23, no.2, 2008, pp. 201-217.

Haile, Ellen. “How To Be A… Poet: Elizabeth Acevedo.” Unruly, 19 Sept. 2016, un-ruly.com/how-to-be-a-poet-elizabeth-acevedo/#.WFwNendx-YU. Accessed 25 Oct. 2016.

Hall, Stuart, and Paul du Gay, editors. Questions of Cultural Identity. Sage Publicatons, 1996.

Hannam, June. Feminism: Seminar Studies in History Series. Longman, 2012.

Hanisch, Carol. “The Personal Is Political.” Carolhanisch, Feb. 1969/2006, www.carolhanisch.org/CHwritings/PIP.html. Accessed 11 Dec. 2016.

Hassan, Mohamad Fleih, et al. ”Resurfacing Female Identity via Language in Adrienne Rich's Diving into the Wreck.” Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 6, no. 6, Nov. 2015, pp. 245-253, doi: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s2p245. Accessed 11 May 2017.

Henley, Jon. “Haiti: a Long Descent to Hell.” The Guardian, 14 Jan. 2010, www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/14/haiti-history-earthquake-disaster. Accessed 26 Nov. 2016.

Hoffman, Tyler. “Beat Acoustics, Presence, and Resistance.” American Poetry in Performance: From Walt Whitman to Hip Hop. U of Michigan P, 2011, pp.124-161. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.3091522.8. Accessed 25 Nov. 2016.

Joseph, Lalitha. “Poetry Slam: The Poetics of American Popular Culture.” Academia.edu, 2014, www.academia.edu/14531830/POETRY_SLAM_THE_POETICS_OF_AMERICAN_POPULAR_C…. Accessed 1 March 2017.

Kain, Patricia. “How to Do a Close Reading.” Writing Center Harvard, 1998, writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/how-do-close-reading. Accessed 4 March 2017.

Kaya, Naliyah K. “Poetic Personas: Self & Society in Spoken Word Performance Culture.” George Mason U, 2010, ebot.gmu.edu/handle/1920/5831. Accessed 27 Nov. 2016.

Kennedy, X. J. , and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, Compact Edition. 5th ed., Longman, 2006.

Kirwan, Padraig. “The Emergent Land: Nature and Ecology in Native American Expressive Forms.” University College Dublin, 1999, www.ucd.ie/pages/99/articles/kirwan.pdf. Accessed 4 May 2017.

 “Louisiana Teen Held in Infant's Killing, Police Say.” CNN, 7 June 2009, edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/07/louisiana.child.death/index.html. Accessed 3 May 2017.

Love Ramirez, Tanisha, and Zeba Blay. “Why People are Using the Term Latinx.” The Huffington Post, updated 6 July 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-people-are-using-the-term-latinx_us_57…. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.

Love Ramirez, Tanisha. “Poet Captures The Heart-Wrenching Fear Of Losing A Loved One To Police Brutality.” The Huffington Post, 7 Dec. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/poet-captures-the-heart-wrenching-fear-of-…. Accessed 29 March 2017.

“Lucille Clifton.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Edited by Julia Reidhead, Shorter 8th ed., Norton, 2013, pp. 2661-2666.

Norriss, James. “Othering 101: What is ‘Othering’.”Wordpress, 28 Dec. 2011, therearenoothers.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/othering-101-what-is-othering/. Accessed 18 Dec. 2016.

Oppel, Richard A. “Ohio Teenagers Guilty in Rape That Social Media Brought to Light.” The New York Times, 27 March 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/us/teenagers-found-guilty-in-rape-in-steuben…. Accessed 3 May 2013.

Oxford English Dictionary. “Definition of Identity in English.” OED Online, Oxford UP, n.d. en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/identity. Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.

---. “Definition of Yoruba in English.” OED Online, Oxford UP,  n.d. en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/diaspora. Accessed 13 May 2017.

“Pages Matam, Elizabeth Acevedo & G. Yamazawa - ‘Unforgettable’.” YouTube, uploaded by Button Poetry, 4 Sept. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvah3E1fP20. Accessed 18 Sept. 2016.

 “prieto.” Gran Diccionario de la Lengua Española. Larousse Editorial, 2016,  es.thefreedictionary.com/prieto. Accessed 27 March 2017.

Pauls, Elizabeth Prine, editor. “Xochiquetzal.” Encyclopædia Britannica Online, Encyclopædia Britannica, 8 Dec. 2006, www.britannica.com/topic/Xochiquetzal. Accessed 5 May 2017.

Quintana, Carlos. “Latin Music History A Look at The Cultural Mix and Social Environment that Produced Latin Music.” ThoughtCo, 7 May 2014, www.thoughtco.com/latin-music-history-2141147. Accessed 16 April 2017.

Rashedi, Roxanne Naseem, B.A. ‘’Deconstructing the Erotic: A Feminist Exploration of Bodies & Voice in Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, Nella Larsen, and Toni Morrison.’’ MA Thesis, Georgetown U, 2011, repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/553033/rashediRoxanne.pdf;sequence=1. Accessed 17 May 2017.

Reichard, Raquel. “Woman Crush(ing the Patriarchy) Wednesday: Elizabeth Acevedo.” Latina. 11 Nov. 2015, www.latina.com/lifestyle/our-issues/wcw-elizabeth-acevedo. Accessed 26 Oct. 2016.

Rivera-Rideau, Petra, et al., editors. Afro-Latin@s in Movement: Critical Approaches to Blackness and Transnationalism in the Americas. Springer Nature, 2016.

Rodriguez, Yen. “The Triple Double: Racially Ambiguous Afro-Latino Identities in America.” Thesis, Kennesaw State U, 2014, digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=mast_etd. Accessed 13 May 2017.

Rubin, Merle. “Feminism's Values Crisis Becomes Internal Warfare 'Equality' vs. 'Differences' and Other Stresses: Is this a Left-Brain Problem?” The Baltimore Sun, Nov. 15 1998, articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-11-15/features/1998319001_1_feminist-agenda-equality-and-difference-difference-feminism. Accessed 8 Apr. 2017.

Rushdie, Salman. “The Empire Writes Back with a Vengeance.” Times, 1982, p. 8.

Sfetcu, Nicolae. “Poetry Kaleidoscope.” Google Books, 2014, books.google.be/books?id=2EmNAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=nicolae+sfetcu+poetry+kaleidoscope&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiEzbKx07zSAhVqLMAKHZmqB6wQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Accessed 2 March 2017.

Smits, Annelore. “‘The Points are Not the Point: the Point is the Poetry’: Het ontstaan en de evolutie van poetry slams in New York City.” MA Thesis, Universiteit Gent, 2010, lib.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/001/457/975/RUG01-001457975_2011_0001_AC.pdf. Accessed 3 March 2017.

---. “Slam Poetry and the Cultural Politics of Performing Identity.” The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, vol. 38, no. 1, Special Convention Issue: Performance, 2005, pp. 51-73, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30039299?seq=6#page_scan_tab_contents. Accessed 18 Feb. 2017.

Somers-Willett, Susan B. A. The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry: Race, Identity and the Performance of Popular Verse in America. U of Michigan P, 2009.

Teenylamorena [forum nickname]. “tumbao.” Urban Dictionary, 3 Dec. 2007, www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=teenylamorena. Accessed on 15 April 2017.

Tempo3240 [forum nickname]. “cocolo.” Urban Dictionary, 10 July 2008, www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cocolo. Accessed 27 March 2017.

Torres-Saillant, Silvio. Introduction to Dominican Blackness. 2nd ed., CUNY, 2010, www.ccny.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/dsi/upload/Introduction_to_Domini…. Accessed 24 March 2017.

TWIM [forum nickname]. “cocolo.” Urban Dictionary, 12 May 2016, www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cocolo. Accessed 27 March 2017.

“2017 Berkshire Prize”. Tupelo Press, www.tupelopress.org/2016/01/22/2016-berkshire-prize/. Accessed 17 Feb. 2017.

Vallejo, Catharina. “La ‘construcción’ de Anacaona, cacica Taína muerta en 1503, en dos textos de españa de mediados del siglo XIX - La emancipación negada.” Mujeres y Emancipación de la América Latina y el Caribe en los siglos XIX y XX, edited by Irina Bajini, Luisa Campuzano and Emilia Perassi, Ledizioni, 2013 pp. 19-26.

van den Eijnden, J.S. “9/11 and the Socio-Politics of Poetry.” RMA Thesis, Utrecht University, 18 July 2013, dspace.library.uu.nl:8080/handle/1874/282502. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017.

Withaeckx, Sophie. “Intersectionaliteit in theorie en onderzoek.” Inleiding tot de vrouwen- en genderstudies, 29 Mar. 2016, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Lecture.

Wolfram, Walt. “The Grammar of Urban African American Vernacular English.” Handbook of Varieties of English, edited by Bernd Kortman and Edgar Schneider, Mouton de Gruyter, 2004, pp. 111-132.

Woodard, Frederick. “Chapter I, Of Our Spiritual Strivings.” The Heath Anthology of American Literature, edited by Paul Lauter, Houghton Mifflin, 5th ed., 2006, pp. 897-902

Yawson, Ama. “Afro-Textured Hair: Beautiful and Magical or Nappy Heads in Need of Perminators?” The Huffington Post, 2 Dec. 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/ama-yawson/afro-textured-hair-beauti_b_5890752.h…. Accessed 4 May 2017.

Young, Glynn. “Poetry at Work: Dana Gioia and Can Poetry Matter?” Tweetspeak, 2013, www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2013/02/12/poetry-at-work-dana-gioia-and-can-p…. Accessed 27 Feb. 2017.

Universiteit of Hogeschool
Taal-en Letterkunde: Engels-Spaans
Publicatiejaar
2017
Promotor(en)
Elisabeth Bekers
Kernwoorden
Share this on: