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It analyzes the cultural narratives through which imperialism, white supremacy, and misogyny appropriate rights discourse to pose at once as savior and victim. While literary humanitarianism promotes rights as a contest of victimhood and disconnects international spaces, it explores literary strategies for reimagining social justice.
List of contents
Acknowledgement
Credits
Introduction: Barriers to Indivisibility and Intersectionality in Rights Formations
Chapter 1: The Historical Arc of Institutionalized Racism and Rights in Yaa Gyasi's
Homegoing and Claudia Rankine's
CitizenChapter 2: Examining Cultural Narratives of Misogynist Ethnonationalism in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's
Half of a Yellow Sun and
AmericanahChapter 3: Reimagining Literary Engagement with State Discourse on Rights in Racially Divided Societies with Zoë Wicomb's
David's Story and Mecca Jamilah Sullivan's "Wolfpack"
Chapter 4: Second- and Third-Generation Resistance to Neoliberal Imperialism in Michelle Cliff's
No Telephone to Heaven and Chris Abani's
GraceLandChapter 5: Raced Configurations of Womanhood and Structures of Labor in Jamaica Kincaid's
Lucy and Nicole Dennis-Benn's
Here Comes the SunConclusion: Reading in Place: Insights from Alabama's Civil Rights Triangle
Index
About the author
Jennifer Rickel is a Professor of English at the University of Montevallo. She holds a BA in English with honors from the University of California Santa Barbara and a PhD in English from Rice University. Her research and teaching focus on contemporary literature in English, postcolonial studies, human rights, and gender and sexuality. She co-founded and co-coordinates the Peace and Justice Studies program at the University of Montevallo. She has published articles in the
Journal of Narrative Theory,
Ariel: A Review of International English Literature,
South Atlantic Review,
LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, and
Studies in the Novel.
