Fictions of Whiteness: Imagining the Planter Caste in the French Caribbean Novel

The béké, a white Creole master, is a reviled character in plantation literature, associated with slavery and economic dominance. Maeve McCusker's Fictions of Whiteness examines the representation of the béké across two centuries and a range of ideological contexts, illuminating the contradictions and paradoxes of white identity in the Caribbeans vieilles colonies.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 01 November 2021
Publisher: University of Virginia Press

The Antilles continue to be a society deeply preoccupied with the intricate gradations of skin color and the social hierarchies that largely stem from, or are influenced by, racial identity. However, francophone postcolonial studies have largely neglected a significant figure in plantation literature: the béké, the white Creole master. A foundational presence in the collective Antillean imagination, the béké is a reviled character who is associated with the trauma of slavery and with the ongoing economic dominance, a figure who is simultaneously desired and fetishized.

Fictions of Whiteness, the first book-length study to delve into the literary construction of whiteness in the francophone Caribbean, offers a comprehensive examination of the overlooked béké figure in the broader history of Antillean literature and culture. Authored by Maeve McCusker, the book explores the representation of the white Creole across two centuries and a diverse range of ideological contexts. From early nineteenth-century békés like Louis de Maynard and Joseph Levilloux to canonical twentieth- and twenty-first-century novelists such as Édouard Glissant, Patrick Chamoiseau, Raphaël Confiant, and Maryse Condé, as well as lesser-known authors like Vincent Placoly and Marie-Reine de Jaham, and even obscure writers like Henri Micaux, McCusker's close analyses shed light on the complexities and contradictions of white identity in the Caribbeans vieilles colonies, which served as laboratories for the colonial mission and continue to be haunted by the specter of slavery.

Through these detailed examinations, Fictions of Whiteness provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of the multifaceted dynamics of race, identity, and power in the Antilles. It challenges us to reevaluate our assumptions about the region's history and highlights the ongoing relevance of exploring the legacies of colonialism and slavery in contemporary Caribbean literature and culture.

Weight: 420g
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780813946788