Conferencing in the Virgin Islands
On women's writing and mermaids
Last week I was in St. Croix for the Caribbean Studies Association conference and it was really wonderful. I’m so grateful to Stephen, the grandparents, and the YMCA camp for holding down the childcare while I was away for a week. I stayed in Christiansted, in a condo on the top of a hill (it made for a sweaty walk back and forth to town, but beautiful views). At one of the condo pools, I met some interesting residents who had moved from the mainland U.S., and had led fascinating lives (including working on the space shuttle program). One evening we struck up a conversation about artistic genius (I was talking a lot about the conference) and two men suggested that artists will inevitably find a way to express themselves and create.
Maybe. If they’re men. I thought about the entire team of people who made it possible for me to both write the paper I presented (on contemporary Haitian novels and their Cuban Spanish translations… if you want to see my face light up, ask me about my academic book project) and attend the conference itself. Highlights included seeing dear friends (Keja Valens, who has a fabulous book on Caribbean cookbooks out next year) and making new ones, including novelist Sienna Brown, whose book Master of My Fate (historical fiction) imagines the life of a 19th century Jamaican man William Buchanan who was sent as a convict to Australia in the 1830s as punishment for his involvement in slave uprisings. I also got to hang with Camilla Stevens, an expert on Cuban drama, but who is also really good at snorkeling (and who has written and edited a number of books, including her most recent on theater from the Dominican Republic). We went to Buck Island and it was the best… saw so many fish, a sea turtle, manta ray, giant conch shells. Highly recommend.
I also got to spend more time with Jocelyn Fenton Stitt, who also has a new book out on Caribbean life writing and archives, and Leah Rosenberg, whose academic energy never ceases to amaze me. Leah organized a panel on tourism (tldr: it’s not great) and St. Thomas writer Tiphanie Yanique spoke about how tourism functions in the Virgin Islands. I was really excited to hear her speak, because I’ve taught her novel Land of Love and Drowning, and really enjoy her short stories. She also has a new novel out, Monster in the Middle, so adding that to my summer reading list.
Yanique told us about a piece she’s currently writing on Hans Christian Andersen and the new Little Mermaid casting a black woman in the starring role. While obviously the “controversy” is really just white supremacists getting mad, Yanique made a compelling argument that Andersen himself most likely conceived of the character as a Caribbean woman. Denmark colonized what are now the U.S. Virgin Islands for over 250 years, from the 17th century until they sold the islands to the U.S. in 1917. They are now colonies of the U.S. (like Puerto Rico) with no voting representation in the federal government but with some local autonomy. In any case, Hans Christian Andersen was very much aware of the Virgin Islands, and the debates to end slavery there, when he wrote “The Little Mermaid” in 1836. I loved her argument, and decided I’ll teach my English 1002 class in the spring on mermaids in literature (tell all the young people in your life to come to PC so they can take it).
Some more mermaid literature that came up, if you want to start reading some and let me know your favorite: Trinidadian Monica Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch, The Deep by Rivers Solomon, and Land of Love and Drowning (highly recommend). Let me know if you have any more mermaid lit suggestions, and hope you’re all having a good summer. Next week I’ll start up again with some local and state updates (the SC Supreme Court will hear the abortion ban case on June 27th) but for now, let’s just revel a little longer in the healing power of art and women’s voices and that, unlike the little mermaid, some of us can be mothers and partners and writers and creators these days. Let’s read some writing by women and continue the struggle. xoxo
