A contracorriente: Resistencias transoceánicas en Canarias, Cuba y Puerto Rico

A contracorriente: Transoceanic Resistances in the Canary Islands, Cuba y Puerto Rico, engages two emerging theoretical fields in the blue humanities: transoceanic and archipelagic studies. These theories, I argue, encourage ways of thinking a contracorriente, that is, they help redefine space and identity in ways that disrupt colonial continuums, recentering geographies and narratives that have been historically relegated to the margins of empire. Adopting the ocean as an analytical framework for advancing cross-regional, interdisciplinary research on timely global topics, this thesis traces an ongoing history of sexual, racial and environmental violence particular to these geopolitically enclosed spaces. I focus on contemporary literary and cultural productions that deploy otros saberes or suppressed forms of syncretic knowledge to problematize and resist imperial interventions in the Canary Islands, Cuba, Puerto Rico, archipelagos with a shared history of occupation and dispossession. From the confinement of queer individuals in island colonies by totalitarian regimes, to the desolation brought upon by recent (un)natural disasters and crises, devastating dystopias set in not-too-distant futures, and finally ending with a post-pandemic reality defined by the impact of mass tourism and digital nomads, the works explored in my dissertation challenge established boundaries, periods, and regions within the Spanish-speaking world when approached as a constellation. This work aims to question and push the limits of the Latin American and Iberian canons. I propose the ocean as an (alter)native epistemological space that questions and surpasses Western capitalist coloniality and its definitions of race, gender, sovereignty and belonging, in current dialogue among neocolonial regions.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Spanish

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Gonzalez Martin, Cristina F

Contributors dc:contributor

• Meléndez, Mariselle
• Fornoff, Carolyn
• Irigoyen-García, Javier
• Ledesma, Eduardo

• Contemporary
• Canary Islands
• Cuba
• Puerto Rico
• Transoceanic Studies
• Archipelagic Studies
• Blue Humanities
• Insularity
• Literature
• Cultural Studies

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Cristina F. González Martín

Language dc:language

es, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125715

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F125715