Date of Award
1991
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Shaktini, Namascar
Abstract
Identity in the African diaspora has been an issue of great interest in recent years. In her first novel Heremakhonon, Maryse Conde explores African diasporan female identity. She brings into question multi-culturalism, race stratification, classism, and sexism as major influences in developing identity for the African diasporan woman. For Conde's protagonist in the novel, Veronica, fragmented consciousness is manifested by movement from Guadeloupe, her birth land, to France, to Africa in search of a place or an individual who might help her "heal" her identity. In addition to establishing the existence of fragmentation of consciousness in her character, Conde creates a unique narrative voice which employs elements of autonomous interior monologue to explore the female Diasporan perspective. Finally, Maryse Conde, through the experiences of her character Veronica, refutes the essentialist view of identity in African peoples of the world.
Extent
83 p.
Recommended Citation
Wood, Jacqueline E., "Cracked roots: Identity in Maryse Conde's "Heremakhonon"" (1991). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 1990 - 1999. 158.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_4/158
Identifier
FADT14716
Comments
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1991.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters