One Plus One Equals Three
Marasa Consciousness, the Lwa, and Three Stories
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5823769 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Pressley-Sanon (corresponding author), Pressley-Sanon Pressley-Sanon (University at Buffalo, State University of New York, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 118-118 |
| Publication date | 2013-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Research in African Literatures (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-5210 • E-ISSN: 1527-2044 |
| Publisher | Indiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2979/reseafrilite.44.3.118 |
| OpenAlex | W2053737934 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 22 |
| References cited | 6 |
This article expands on literary critic Vèvè A. Clark's discussion of the marasa concept as a mythical theory of textual relationships based on the Haitian Divine Twins by connecting the concept to its African origins, itself a marasa, and exploring it in relation to three short stories from Haiti Noir (2011), an anthology of noir literature edited by Edwidge Danticat. Even though the narratives are firmly focused on the New World experience, I contend that the marasa's origins guide and shape the stories and are explicitly manifest in at least one of them. Thus, the short stories "Which One?" by Évelyne Trouillot, "The Last Department" by Katia D. Ulysse, and "The Finger" by Gary Victor (in my own invocation of marasa twa) embody the marasa concept in the way that they explore its continued relevance in the Caribbean reality of contemporary large diasporas and international interventions, which is especially true of Haiti, that produce here/there, us/them, home/abroad dichotomies. Moreover, they illustrate the attendant third element/space/moment of resolution or completeness through creativity, the dosu/dosa, which is also integral to the marasa concept
Dichotomy · Invocation · Caribbean and African Literature and Culture · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Migration, Identity, and Health
Juana Ramírez, Eighteenth-Century Oaxaca, New Spain (Mexico)
Maria Firmina dos Reis, Nineteenth-Century Maranhão (Brazil)
Carrie Williams Clifford, Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Ohio (US)
Elizabeth Key, Seventeenth-Century Virginia (US)
Emma Lane Coger, Nineteenth-Century Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri (US)
Minerva, Nineteenth-Century Téjas and Louisiana (US), and Mexico
Gabriela, Nineteenth-Century Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil)
Cécile Fatiman and Petra Carabalí, Late Eighteenth-Century Haiti and Mid-Nineteenth-Century Cuba
Paula de Eguiluz, Seventeenth-Century Puerto Rico, Cuba, and New Granada (Colombia)
María Hipólita Lozano, Eighteenth-Century Lima (Peru)
Juana María Álvarez, Eighteenth-Century New Granada (Colombia)
Anna Maria Lopes de Brito, Eighteenth-Century Minas Gerais (Brazil)
Margarita de Sossa, Sixteenth-Century Puebla de los Ángeles, New Spain (Mexico)
Marion, Eighteenth-Century Natchitoches, Louisiana (US)
Judith and Hannah
María Remedios del Valle, Nineteenth-Century Argentina
Sarah Chauqum, Eighteenth-Century Rhode Island and Connecticut (US)
Hannah Manena McKenney, Late Seventeenth- and Early Eighteenth-Century Bermuda and New Providence (Bahamas)
Reytory Angola, Seventeenth-Century Manhattan (US)
As If She Were Free
Laura E. Davis Titus, Nineteenth-Century Norfolk, Virginia (US)
Caring for Everything Inside
| Citations per year | 3.67 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2022 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |