Dangerous Creole Liaisons: Sexuality and Nationalism in French Caribbean Discourses from 1806 to 1897

Dangerous Creole Liaisons examines how white Creoles in the French Caribbean portrayed sexualized female bodies and racial difference to advance their political ideologies, highlighting the ambiguous celebration of the Creole woman as both seductress and object of lust.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 02 February 2021
Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Dangerous Creole Liaisons delves into the rich tapestry of the French Caribbean, offering a captivating lens through which to explore profound themes of sexuality, nation-building, and colonialism in the Americas. In her insightful examination, Couti delves into the complex ways in which white Creoles perceived their contributions to French nationalism throughout the nineteenth century. Through their portrayal of sexualized female bodies and the juxtaposition of sexual and racial difference, these individuals sought to advance their political ideologies. Couti's exploration of the ambiguous celebration of the Creole woman as both seductress and object of lust sheds light on the intricate nuances of the Creole identity. She serves as a symbol of the Caribbean as a space of desire and a political arena where colonial, slave, and post-slave societies converge. The under-researched white Creole writers and non-Caribbean authors, such as Lafcadio Hearn, who ventured to these islands and documented their experiences, provide a fascinating exploration of gendering and sexualization within colonial and nationalist discourses. Their utilization of the floating motif of the female body as a symbol of the nation exposes a profound cultural cross-pollination, fostering an intense dialogue of political identity between continental France and her Caribbean colonies. Couti suggests that this cross-pollination continues to shape the dynamics of the region. Ultimately, representations of Creole women's bodies, both white and black, bring forth two competing conceptions of nationalism: a local, bounded French nationalism juxtaposed against a transatlantic and more fluid nationalism that encompasses the Antilles within a "greater France."

Weight: 438g
Dimension: 159 x 233 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781800349070