{"id":28706,"date":"2013-02-11T19:22:50","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T19:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=28706"},"modified":"2013-02-11T19:22:50","modified_gmt":"2013-02-11T19:22:50","slug":"dismembering-the-master-narrative-michelle-cliff%e2%80%99s-attempt-to-rewrite-jamaican-history-in-abeng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=28706","title":{"rendered":"Dismembering the Master Narrative: Michelle Cliff\u2019s Attempt to Rewrite Jamaican History in Abeng"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/fisherpub.sjfc.edu\/english_seniorseminar\/7\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dismembering the Master Narrative: Michelle Cliff\u2019s Attempt to Rewrite Jamaican History in Abeng<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sjfc.edu\" target=\"_blank\">St. John Fisher College, Rochester, New York<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/fisherpub.sjfc.edu\/english_seniorseminar\" target=\"_blank\">English Senior Seminar Papers<\/a><br \/>\n2012-11-27<br \/>\n27 pages<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"mailto:mrp06393@sjfc.edu\" target=\"_blank\">Marissa Petta<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><em>St. John Fisher College<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=13596\" target=\"_blank\">Abeng<\/a><\/em> by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.english.emory.edu\/Bahri\/Cliff.html\" target=\"_blank\">Michelle Cliff<\/a> is a coming-of-age novel set in colonial Jamaica. The heroine, Clare, struggles with defining herself across the lines of gender, race, class, and sexuality. Intertwined with Clare\u2019s journey to find herself is a large discussion of Jamaica\u2019s history as a colonial territory as well as the permanent effects of English colonization on the island. Cliff recognizes that the typical European history of Jamaica is told through the eyes of superior white male colonizers and it most commonly shows that all things native and\/or black are perceived as <em>bad<\/em>. Cliff challenges the master narrative and tries to rewrite Jamaica\u2019s colonial history with the untold stories of the island\u2019s past. Through discussion of mixed race heritage, female leadership, and resistance, Cliff tries to rewrite Jamaica\u2019s past to embrace the forgotten stories that are full of pride and strength, which gives the colonized subjects a voice in their own history. She uses Clare Savage as a metaphor for the island, her resistance as a representation of Jamaica\u2019s new history. Cliff recognizes that the past cannot be erased, however, she believes that history can be retold to more fully explain the strength, resilience, and power within the Jamaican community. Her ultimate goal is to tell a powerful story of Jamaica\u2019s history, a new history that has been untold and kept secret for many years. Clare\u2019s resistance is the catalyst of change in Cliff\u2019s retelling of Jamaica\u2019s past, and she helps to create a sense of hope that the stories that have been hidden for so long will be unveiled and celebrated by the Jamaican people&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Read the entire article <a href=\"http:\/\/fisherpub.sjfc.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&amp;context=english_seniorseminar\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dismembering the Master Narrative: Michelle Cliff\u2019s Attempt to Rewrite Jamaican History in Abeng St. John Fisher College, Rochester, New York English Senior Seminar Papers 2012-11-27 27 pages Marissa Petta St. John Fisher College Abeng by Michelle Cliff is a coming-of-age novel set in colonial Jamaica. The heroine, Clare, struggles with defining herself across the lines [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1196,8,14,6462],"tags":[13635,2755,13610],"class_list":["post-28706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-literary-criticism","category-media-archive","category-papers","category-passing-2","tag-marissa-petta","tag-michelle-cliff","tag-st-john-fisher-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}