(Re)inscribing blackness onto the Canadian Soil: memory and resistance in contemporary African-Canadian drama

Title: (Re)inscribing blackness onto the Canadian Soil: memory and resistance in contemporary African-Canadian drama
Source document: Brno studies in English. 2015, vol. 41, iss. 1, pp. [131]-143
Extent
[131]-143
  • ISSN
    0524-6881 (print)
    1805-0867 (online)
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
 

Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.

Abstract(s)
Since black Canadians constitute only approximately two percent of Canada's population, blackness is not considered natural to Canada. As a result of this, and due to the racism of the dominant white society, black belonging is always under threat of erasure. This paper focuses on two contemporary African-Canadian plays, Djanet Sears's The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God (2001) and Lorena Gale's Je me souviens: Memories of an Expatriate Anglophone Montréalaise Québecoise Exiled in Canada (2001), and attempts to demonstrate how the themes of remembering and resistance to forgetfulness make them political plays. It argues that by reclaiming forgotten segments of Canadian history and remembering moments of racism, they not only go against the grain of Canada's dominant history and cast a shadow of doubt over the seemingly untarnished image of Canada in the world but also recreate a space for blackness in the Canadian national narrative.
References
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