At the Interstices of Diaspora: Queering the Long Story Short in Caribbean Literature by Women

Abstract

The appearance of gay and lesbian characters in Caribbean literature of the past 30 to 50 years has been a complicated affair. Timothy S. Chin offers that ‘Caribbean literary production has traditionally maintained a conspicuous silence around issues of gay and lesbian sexuality’ but ‘there are more recent writers — emerging particularly within the last two decades — who have broken the taboo that has previously surrounded the question of gay and lesbian sexuality and homophobia in Caribbean culture’ (‘Bullers’ 129). The entrance of transgender characters into contemporary Caribbean fiction has been no less complex. Rosamond S. King contends that transgender characters have a particular function in the service of normatively gendered characters that does not challenge dominant belief systems about queer peoples in Caribbean societies. She states, ‘Trans people most often deliver these characters to safety, to a better understanding of themselves, and to their “true” destinies, feelings, or histories’ (583). King continues:

On the surface, portraying trans people as having special insight and abilities to help other people may seem positive and even progressive because it places them in a position of power and shows them using their power to benefit others. But these portrayals are also problematic because Caribbean trans characters are also consistently kept on the margins of the texts and are deprived of their individuality. (583–4)