Colonial Possessions: Producing the Zombie in Erna Brodber's Myal

Authors

Joanna Lee Valdes, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Major/Program

English

First Advisor's Name

Anne M. Castro

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Heather Blatt

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Third Advisor's Name

Ana Luszczynska

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Michael Gillespie

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

Post-Colonial, Possession, Spirit, Exoticism, Zombification, Identity, Wounds, Assimilation

Date of Defense

3-20-2020

Abstract

Erna Brodber’s 1988 novel Myal reveals the fatal injuries performed on the spirit by the colonizing efforts of others. In the novel, biracial Jamaican protagonist, Ella, experiences a profound devastation when her husband, Selwyn, creates a ‘white’ persona for her in his production Caribbean Nights and Days. In my thesis, I argue that Selwyn’s aggressions upon Ella’s spirit are only a fraction of the many conducted by those around her. Granted, while Selwyn’s play brings Ella’s zombified spirit into fruition with his distortion of her childhood— the Grovetown community, the Brassington’s and Mrs. Burns also aid in the process of zombifying Ella. The processes of zombification demonstrated through Ella’s steadily emptied biracial identity, independence and spirit occur through a gradual assimilation. Thus, by using the theoretical framework of exoticism and identity referenced in the work of Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Stuart Hall and others, the development and consequences surrounding zombification are examined.

Identifier

FIDC008955

Recommended Citation

Valdes, Joanna Lee, "Colonial Possessions: Producing the Zombie in Erna Brodber's Myal" (2020). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4392.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4392