The Significance of Black Women to Early Modern Iberian Literature
| dc.contributor.advisor | Middlebrook, Leah | |
| dc.contributor.author | Tweede, Cornesha | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-10-04T19:48:04Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-10-04T19:48:04Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-10-04 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Chapter 1 is a thorough literary review and further discussion of the field and how Black women characters are conventionally perceived to discuss my own “second look” and my reading practices. The introduction also provides context about Spain, Portugal, and Africa geographically, literarily, and culturally in the early modern period. Chapter 2, titled “Seed of Language and Root: Beauty, Fala de preto and Spiritual Gifts” engages the Portuguese tradition. Portugal was the leading country during the time for maritime exploration and “discovery” of uncharted and unknown areas in Africa. I split the chapter in two by focusing one part of it on one poem: “Endechas a Bárbara Escrava (aquela Cativa)” (1595) by Luís de Camões. In the second half, I engage theater and drama in the Portuguese tradition by using the play, “Autos das Regateiras” (1565) by António Ribeiro Chiado. The poet writes similarly to how Luís de Góngora writes about Black beauty in “Mientras por competir con tu cabello.” This poet uses description of body parts and the sense of captivity to describe this captive person that has him captivated by love and beauty. Through lyric poetry and theater, I discuss how black African females were figured into an abject position and how this cultural production in Portugal portrays Black characters as minor and marginal. My interpretation of these black African women in this poem and play is that they are integral to the narrative and plot. I center these characters as Black subjects and recuperate their agency through this theorization of Blackness. Chapter 3, titled “Seed of Positionality and Resistance: African Princess, Language and Substance” shifts focus to the Spanish tradition. This chapter is split in half. The first part engages with Cervantes’s work, as I will bring in Don Quijote de la Mancha I (1605) and Las novelas ejemplares II (1613), while the second part discusses cultural appropriation with regard to verba y res. I focus on the African princess Micomicona and the Black female from El coloquio de los perros for the first part. I analyze the representation of the erstwhile African princess Micomicona and argue that this African princess is a central character that shapes the plot, rather than the minor character field renders her. My work on Micomicona exemplifies the “reparative process” I conduct throughout the dissertation in the context of Iberian early modern literary production. The second part of the chapter engages in a discussion of cultural appropriation. Speech is a pervasive device early modern writers used to distinguish Black characters in a narrative or prose. I use the Renaissance humanist concept of verba (“word”) y res (“substance”) with regard to Micomicona and Dorotea. In the first part, I explore the position of the figure of Micomicona as a function of res (nonspeech but creates the substance for words) and how her characterization in the episode underscores the subject position of a White elite woman, Dorotea as a function of verba (speech with words). I will argue the point that this African character is necessary to Dorotea’s existence, participation and agency throughout the novel. I will also explore the gestures and resistance of the Black female character in El coloquio de los perros. I won’t compare these two characters as I will theorize their form of Blackness differently, but both serve to recuperate Blackness and Black female presence. This section will also tie in Fanon’s ideas of cultural appropriation with regard to language. Chapter 4, titled “Seed of Love and Restoration: Black Beauty and Freedom” brings in another discussion of the Spanish tradition, this time delivered from the perspective of a White Castilian woman. The chapter has an introductory section to set up the nucleus of the argument. The introductory section will bring in my interpretations of Luis de Góngora’s poem “Mientras por competir con tu cabello” with regard to Black beauty. I also tie in the representation and African beauty of the African queen in Book 5 of Petrarch’s Africa book, Sophinisba. This character is similar in physical representation as Princess Micomicona, somatically described as white or cream but still an African princess or queen. In the main portion of the chapter, I theorize the representation of Blackness through beauty and elaboration of dress in Los desengaños amorosos by Maria de Zayas. Specifically, I will focus on Desengaño 4 “Tarde llega el desengaño” which features a black African female house slave who dies a tragic death after lying about a mishap with a family member. The tale points out clearly her beauty and how elaborately she dresses. I tie in interpretations of the authorship and the writing and casting of a Black female servant. Additionally, I bring in discussion of a novella by Mariana de Carvajal y Saavedra titled “La industria vence desdenes,” where in the seventh novella there is a Black female slave named Antonia. Since Zayas and Carvajal played a major role in the early modern cultural production, I briefly discuss this work as it features a Black slave woman. I do not intend to bombard this chapter with information, but Carvajal’s work is at least mentioned in this chapter. Through these approaches and interpretations, I restore subjectivity and agency for this Black female character. I use this space to discuss how my approaches and theorization push towards the future of where the field is going. The conditioning of Black Feminist approaches highlights the role and value of Black women in society and how their value has not changed since the fifteenth-century. This is not to be anachronistic, nor do I view my work as such, but I highlight how the past is in the present. This section underscores the bridge between black African women on the Iberian Peninsula during the fifteenth to seventeenth century and how their contributions greatly impacted modern and contemporary thought surrounding Black women. Moreover, this discussion explains how my theorizations and interpretations are a forward-thinking meditation of the field and conventional thought towards racialization during the early modern era. This section is not necessarily a summary of the dissertation but rather how my thinking and interpretations are ways towards moving thoughts surrounding racialization and gender forward in the field of early modern Iberian Studies. Indeed, the field is moving forward with more radical thoughts and interpretations surrounding racialization and gender so my work will be integral to that shift. Also, I bridge early modern thought concerning representations of black African women to modern and contemporary thought surrounding Black women. This work ultimately exudes an Iberian Blackness that is significantly ignored in the field pervasively. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1794/27639 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | University of Oregon | |
| dc.rights | All Rights Reserved. | |
| dc.title | The Significance of Black Women to Early Modern Iberian Literature | |
| dc.type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Department of Romance Languages | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Oregon | |
| thesis.degree.level | doctoral | |
| thesis.degree.name | Ph.D. |
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