Nineteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

M. NourbeSe Philip’s She tries her tongue, her silence softly breaks (1988) deals with the themes of identity, migration, colonialism, and memory. Mahlis (2004, 2005) and Saunders (2005) have discussed the role of language in Philip’s poetry, opening space for new understandings and interpretations of her work. Through the analysis of selected poems from She tries her tongue, her silence softly breaks (1988), this research explores the crucial role played by language in the lyrical subject’s struggle to come to terms with her identity as a black woman and immigrant, her relationship with her community, and with her own use of language. This analysis is supported by a theoretical framework provided by key concepts such as deterritorialization and minor literature (Deleuze & Guattari, 1986), in betweenness (Bhabha, 1994), the remainder and the violence of language (Lecercle, 1990). Through the violent deconstruction and re-construction of language, M. NourbeSe Philip’s poetry exemplifies a kind of language that is capable of including perspectives and stories once silenced, and of building and re-building her own identity as an immigrant and as a black woman.