Title: The Cultivation of Haitian Women's Sense of Selves : Towards A Field of Action

URL: https://sleger.wixsite.com/field-of-action/

Description: This multimodal dissertation makes space for diasporic Haitian women’s stories and lived experiences which continue to be under-theorized within rhetorical scholarship but are clearly significant within Haitian communities and rhetorical traditions. To bring awareness to Haitian women’s lived experiences, in my dissertation, I present the findings of a study that addresses the ways diasporic Haitian women revisit and navigate memories through reflection to make sense of the ways their lived experiences contribute to different aspects of their identities. The two situations I used as catalysts for memory were—inhabiting and reflecting on practices and conversations of the Haitian kitchen space—and, looking at and revisiting photographs to understand how we, claim, (re)claim, and/or discover identities. To make this inquiry, I explored the act of reflection through in-depth interviews with three diasporic Haitian women. I aim to understand what new knowledge(s) do diasporic Haitian women recognize about their identities through the act of reflection and navigating memories? Further, I work towards understanding how do these new knowledges modify identity performances in the “now”? And, how does a sense of identity consciousness contribute to diasporic Haitian womens’ experiences and practices moving forward? Overall, using modes, such as documentary and photography in my dissertation, I make space for diasporic Haitian women’s voices in rhetoric and composition to disrupt colonial images, visions, myths, stereotypes, and/or fantasies, replacing them with the complexity of our cultural identities from our own lens.

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Subject:   Women's studies,  Caribbean Area