FRAMEWORKS FOR INTERPRETING FRENCH CARIBBEAN WOMEN'S THEATRE: INA CÉSAIRE'SISLAND MEMORIESAT THE THÉÂTRE DU CAMPAGNOL

Abstract

The plays and performances of French Caribbean women, which have mostly been examined in the French language and in the field of French literary studies, require a new theorization of postcolonial theatre. Highly influenced by what I call French universalism, French Caribbean women's theatre moves continuously between evoking Caribbean and gender difference and mobilizing the concept of the human universal. Their work enacts a restorative postcolonial women's agenda that is specific to the cultural context of the French overseas departments of Martinique and Guadeloupe.