Incestuous rape, abjection, and the colonization of psychic space in Toni Morrison'sThe Bluest Eyeand Shani Mootoo'sCereus Blooms at Night
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2178678 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emy Koopman (0000-0001-7701-2075) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 303-315 |
| Publication date | 2013-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Postcolonial Writing (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1744-9855 • E-ISSN: 1744-9863 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17449855.2012.691647 |
| OpenAlex | W2141754961 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 6 |
Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970) and Shani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms at Night \n(1996) both apply a strategy of connecting rape to other forms of oppression, suggesting \nthat incest is at least partly the result of the dynamics of being colonized and \n“othered”. This article brings out the problematics of closely associating colonization \nand (incestuous) rape by exploring the associations made in these two novels. It uses \nKelly Oliver’s concept of “the colonization of psychic space” to argue that the novels \ndemonstrate that without a positive space of meaning, victims of racial oppression and \nof sexual violence find themselves among the abjected. The close association made \nbetween colonization and incest is criticized for ignoring the specificity of the processes \nby which incest and rape function to make one feel abjected
Archaeology · Colonization · Criminology · Linguistics · Oppression · Political science · Psychic · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |