Culture and postcolonial resistance Antigua in Kincaid's A Small Place

Iyunolu Osagie, Christine N. Buzinde

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper uses postcolonial theory to analyze Jamaica Kincaid's quasi-autobiographical book, A Small Place. Kincaid's critique of tourism in Antigua reverses traditional travel writing trends in which First World perceptions of the Third World dominate. She discursively dismantles the imaginative geographies of empire that cement binary oppositions, such as tourist/native and black/white. She collapses these binaries to illustrate the intricate ways in which the global neocolonial ethos created by economic dependencies manifest. Arguing that tourism is implicated in this hegemonic process, she utilizes the metaphor of a guided tour to redirect the imperial gaze. Kincaid argues that legacies of colonial oppression can change once tourist and host value the same things in the shared space of the contact zone.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)210-230
Number of pages21
JournalAnnals of Tourism Research
Volume38
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Antigua
  • Cultural texts
  • Gaze
  • Postcolonial theory
  • Tour guide

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Development
  • Marketing
  • Business and International Management
  • Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management

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