Dirty Skirts

The coming-of-age novel continues to be an important genre for depicting the interrelation of body, subject, and society. Women writers of the Caribbean diaspora return to this genre to describe lived experience and both social inclusion and exclusion, that either support or inhibit personal development within seemingly predetermined power structures. This study investigates and defines the Caribbean-diasporic coming-of-age novels which aim to decolonize the genre of the Bildungsroman. It offers a comparative perspective on the novels written by Angie Cruz, Edwidge Danticat, Ramabai Espinet, and Makeda Silvera, who write about adolescent, maternal, homoerotic, unruly, violated, and rebellious bodies. Close reading focuses on the fictional representations and discourses of hegemonic and subversive body politics under postcolonial and migrant conditions. The book shows how feminist, political writing makes marginalized bodies, identities, and histories visible.