Conviviality in (Post)Colonial Societies: Caribbean Literature in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This article asks about the norms and the forms of knowledge about conviviality in Caribbean literatures of the 19th century, as the discourses of racism were being established and the question of conviviality was negotiated very intensely. To what degree it is possible to critically challenge essentialist constructions in an era that has gone down in history as the heyday of racism? Can a sharper look at representations of conviviality lead us to relativize canonized frames of 19th century reference, such as race and nation?