African Diasporic Women's Narratives - by Simone a James Alexander Paperback

Book Synopsis

Using feminist and womanist theory, Simone Alexander takes as her main point of analysis literary works that focus on the black female body as the physical and metaphorical site of migration. She shows that over time black women have used their bodily presence to complicate and challenge a migratory process often forced upon them by men or patriarchal society.

Through in-depth study of selective texts by Audre Lorde, Edwidge Danticat, Maryse Condé, and Grace Nichols, Alexander challenges the stereotypes ascribed to black female sexuality, subverting its assumed definition as diseased, passive, or docile. She also addresses issues of embodiment as she analyzes how women's bodies are read and seen; how bodies "perform" and are performed upon; how they challenge and disrupt normative standards.

A multifaceted contribution to studies of gender, race, sexuality, and disability issues, African Diasporic Women's Narratives engages with a range of issues as it grapples with the complex interconnectedness of geography, citizenship, and nationalism.

Review Quotes

"A significant study of the black female body, and it contributes to the dialogue on the recognition of the female body in society, generating consciousness of its power."--Small Axe


"Initiates new conversations on the representation of black women's writings in a transnational context."--College Language Association Journal


"Refusing to fixate on suffering, Alexander celebrates African Diasporic women's transgressions of Western femininity, medicine, and citizenship."--Contemporary Women's Writing


"Through the works of four migrant women writers--Audre Lorde, Edwidge Danticat, Maryse Conde, and Grace Nichols--[Alexander] evaluates the sexual deviance embodied in diseased, disabled, and hypersexualized female bodies, as well as women's resistance against normative classifications. . . . An insightful (re)interpretation of black women's experiences both in the United States and beyond."--Women's Studies

About the Author

Simone A. James Alexander is professor of English at Seton Hall University and the author of Mother Imagery in the Novels of Afro-Caribbean Women.