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.