Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 4-9-2025

Abstract

This thesis examines the question of national belonging in autobiographical narratives of second-generation immigrant métisse women. I study the similar aesthetic manner in which individuals with different regional and cultural influences grapple with concepts of identity, gender, racism, exile, and negotiation, and the way in which the authors anchor themselves in a broader familial and national heritage. I argue that such an enterprise can be understood as part of the alternative heritage wave, based on Andrew Higson’s theory. The texts put in question traditional understandings of nation. Doing so opens the possibility of engaging in a dialogue that expands the meaning of nation as a term including broader cultural, linguistic, and historical comprehension of communal connection embracing all the historical realities of a given nation.

Keywords

nation, identity, métisse, biracial, autobiography, gender

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

First Committee Member (Chair)

Rajeshwari Vallury

Second Committee Member

Stephen Bishop

Third Committee Member

Pamela Cheek

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