Conflating perspectives : Derrida and Danticat interrogate the concept of identity
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Major/Program
English
First Advisor's Name
Ana Luszczynska
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Chair
Third Advisor's Name
Meri-Jane Rochelson
Fourth Advisor's Name
Asher Milbauer
Date of Defense
3-24-2009
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze the way in which multicultural studies and theory, two academic areas that traditionally have been at odds, both manifest a distinctly similar stance on the constructedness of identity in Western society and how it affects intercultural relations. Jacques Derrida’s The Other Heading: Reflections on Today’s Europe and Edwidge Danticat’s The Book of the Dead both influence the way being is perceived in society. The first is a political speech intended to open the minds of Europe’s political elite to what is perhaps the root of intercultural straggle in Europe. The second is a short story intended to shed light on the trials of a Haitian-American immigrant family as they come to terms with their homeland’s sociopolitical unrest and try to integrate into a new cultural environment. Together, these texts facilitate a protean examination of the rhetoric of the essential that permeates Western culture, and provide insight into a way of conceiving of being that is both dynamic and prismatic.
Identifier
FI14061568
Recommended Citation
Cunningham, Alexandra Szucs, "Conflating perspectives : Derrida and Danticat interrogate the concept of identity" (2009). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2692.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2692
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