Bryan, Emily
(2021)
Imagining Justice Since 1944: Origins, Order, and Orientation in the Literatures of the Francophone and Hispanic Twentieth Century.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Influential thinkers studying the Holocaust in Europe and colonization in Francophone Africa and Latin America have noted a problematic relationship between narrative accounts of history and the (im)possibility of obtaining justice. Shoshana Felman draws attention to a crisis of juridical authority in Europe following the Holocaust, a moment where the justice system was called to judge some of the same narratives upon which it was built. Efforts to achieve an alternative to the French colonial system have mirrored this problem. Tunisian intellectual Albert Memmi, for example, has argued that the colonial system provides no possibility—on its own terms—of getting beyond itself. In a Latin American postcolonial context, Argentinian scholar Walter Mignolo observes a similar dynamic. For him, the key to rectifying marginalized narratives of injustice is to challenge the central assumptions framing dominant narratives. Ultimately, reframing the narrative assumptions that buttress a dominant perspective is precisely what many authors have done to contest legacies of cultural and political injustice in each of the circumstances addressed in this dissertation. By “folding together” seemingly unrelated (hi)stories from diverse contexts, this dissertation, “Imagining Justice Since 1944: Origins, Order, and Orientation in the Literatures of the Francophone and Hispanic Twentieth Century,” endeavors to identify and explicate literary strategies for contesting dominant normative systems.
In this dissertation I propose and implement a critical approach to studying the ways that contemporary authors have used fiction to contest perceived injustices. The argument that I intend is not a moral one; instead, I study my primary texts through a lens of three concepts meant as a framework for identifying and unpacking the stories that animate the many visions of justice in our globalized world. I define “origin” as the point of reference by which purpose, meaning, and value are determined and measured, “order” as the norms governing an interpretation of and expectations for reality, and “orientation” as a disruption of these norms bearing the potential for change. I show how authors work within these categories to challenge, redefine, and contest injustice and the associated narrative(s) of history that have served to normalize it.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
18 November 2021 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
19 October 2021 |
| Approval Date: |
24 October 2024 |
| Submission Date: |
16 November 2021 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
241 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > French |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Imagining, Narrative, Justice, Injustice, Judgment, 1944, Holocaust, Latin America, Francophone Africa, Colonization, Contestation, Origin, Order, Orientation, Epuration, Churata, Wiethuchter, Perec, Ricoeur, Essomba, Pineiro, Sartre, Camus, Duras, Barbie, Agamben, Felman |
| Date Deposited: |
24 Oct 2024 15:36 |
| Last Modified: |
24 Oct 2024 15:50 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/42169 |
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