Tidalectics – A Barbadian literary cosmology

Keywords: environment, geopoetic, Caribbean, archipelagic thinking, poetry, cosmology, climate change
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 30

Abstract

"it takes me back & drags me tidalectic into this ta
ngled urgent meaning to & fro ." Brathwaite, 1994

In my on-going PhD project, I analyze poetic modalities in contemporary Anglocreole Caribbean poetry that centers around various "watery" phenomena, such as waves, tides, and hurricanes. I argue, that in an archipelagic region like the Caribbean where place is constantly negotiated, due to numerous factors including natural disasters, migration, eroding shores, high and low waters, etc. engaging with phenomena rather than place might be a more fruitful approach when engaging with geopoetic works from the region.

For this specific paper presentation, I will meditate over the famous formulation the tidalectic by the Barbadian poet, historian and geophilosopher, Kamau Brathwaite. I wish to explore the formulation as a literary cosmology that is both particular (Barbadian) as well as relational, in that it seeks to connect the Caribbean archipelago in its entirety to the African continent, and, even further, to the large planetary bodies above us. Engaging with other scholars’ definitions of the tidalectic, including Elizabeth Deloughrey, Stefania Hessler, Alexandra Campbell and others, as well as challenge these in my own exploration.

I will attempt to show, how Brathwaite’s tidalectics allow us to move beyond divisions between the temporal and the spatial and towards the elemental phenomena, and how this might be useful in the reading of other Anglocreole poets such as Jennifer Rahim, Anthony Kellman, Grace Nichols, Celia Sorhaindo, and many others…