Between Totem and Taboo: Black Man, White Woman in Francographic Literature

Front Cover
University of Exeter Press, 2001 - 288 pages


Between Totem and Taboo picks its way judiciously through a minefield of prejudice, myth and stereotypes. It is the first book to explore the literary representation by authors black and white, male and female, of interracial relations between France and her former territories in West Africa through the special nexus of the white woman and the black man.



Presented as a text-based chronological exploration of the relationship from 1740 to the present day, it reveals how racism distorted such relations for a quarter of a millennium. It will fascinate anyone seriously interested in Black studies, Women's studies and Postcolonial studies, who will find in it not only many unknown or unconsidered texts but a new angle of approach to their research. All quotations are in French and English.




 

Selected pages

Contents

Between Totem and Taboo
1
Eighteenthcentury Enwhitenment
22
From Taboo to Totem
42
Traditions and Transitions
61
Opposite Genders Opposite Agendas
81
The French Empire Writes Back
107
Struggles for Independence
130
The Freedom to Choose
153
Liberty and Licence
173
Full Circle
197
Beyond Difference and Indifference
225
Notes
237
Select Bibliography
265
Index
281
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

African amour André attitudes autres avait Bhêly-Quenum bien biracial Blacks and Whites Blanche et Noir Blanche/Noir couple Blanche/Noir relationship Bug-Jargal c'est century Chalaye Christa civilisation cœur colonial coloniale colonialist colour couleur couple domino couples mixtes cultural d'être d'une Dakar deux être European fait Fanon Faure-Favier femme blanche française France French Histoire de Louis homme Houssain husband interracial jamais Joseph l'Afrique l'amour l'homme Le Nègre Léopold Sédar Senghor literary literature littérature Louis Anniaba Lucie Cousturier Madame mariage mixte marriage married Maryse Condé Maurice Delafosse métissage Mireille miscegenation mixed-race mulatto n'est narrative nègre Négresse Negritude Negro novel Olympe Bhêly-Quenum Oroonoko Othello Ourika Ousmane Paris peau peut prejudice préjugés present qu'elle qu'il qu'un race racial racism recognised Sabine Saint Domingue Saint-Raphaël Senegal seul sexual skin-colour slave social société society stereotypes taboo Thierno Tiékoro Tirailleurs sénégalais totem tout traditional University of Exeter Vania white woman wife women writing Zamor

References to this book

Nègres en images
Sylvie Chalaye
No preview available - 2002

About the author (2001)

Roger Little was Professor of French (1776) at Trinity College Dublin until his retirement in 1998. He has an outstanding record of scholarship in French and Francophone writing, with particular interests in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. His academic work has mainly concentrated on modern French poetry and the representation of Blacks in Francographic literature. He has edited several volumes of Textes Littéraires for University of Exeter Press. The French government has conferred upon him the rank of Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite and he has been awarded the Prix de l'Académie française: médaille de vermeil du rayonnement de la langue française.

Bibliographic information

TitleBetween Totem and Taboo: Black Man, White Woman in Francographic Literature
European Studies
AuthorRoger Little
Editionillustrated
PublisherUniversity of Exeter Press, 2001
ISBN0859896498, 9780859896498
Length288 pages
  
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