Catherine A. John is Assistant Professor of African Diasporic Literature at the University of Oklahoma.

“Clear Word and Third Sight casts new light upon the argument of alternative consciousness by using relatively unknown writers and poets, particularly from the English and French West Indies, along with better known diasporic and American writers. It will be of significant interest to scholars concerned with discourses of difference rooted in notions of being and understanding that are not Western or Euro-centered.”-Percy C. Hintzen, author of West Indian in the West: Self-Representations in an Immigrant Community “Clear Word and Third Sight itself offers clarity and vision in a new and insightful reading of African diaspora literatures. Catherine A. John offers a necessary revisiting of negritude, a confidence in her examination of coloniality and gendered identity, and an embrace of magic and spirit and poetry.”-Carole Boyce Davies, Florida International University

• Acknowledgments ixIntroduction: Alternate Consciousness in the Diaspora 11 Paris in 1956: Negritude and Cultural Discourse 212 Colonial Legacies, Gender Identity, and Black Female Writing in the Diaspora 433 Negritude and Negativity: Alienation and "Voice" in Eastern Caribbean Literature 744 Diaspora Philosophy, French Caribbean Literature, and Simone Schwarz-Bart's Pluie et vent sur Telumee Miracle 1145 The Spoken Word and Spirit Consciousness: Audre Lorde and Paule Marshall's Diasporic Voice 158Afterword 203Notes 211Bibliography 227Index 237

Catherine A. John is Assistant Professor of African Diasporic Literature at the University of Oklahoma.

“Clear Word and Third Sight casts new light upon the argument of alternative consciousness by using relatively unknown writers and poets, particularly from the English and French West Indies, along with better known diasporic and American writers. It will be of significant interest to scholars concerned with discourses of difference rooted in notions of being and understanding that are not Western or Euro-centered.”-Percy C. Hintzen, author of West Indian in the West: Self-Representations in an Immigrant Community “Clear Word and Third Sight itself offers clarity and vision in a new and insightful reading of African diaspora literatures. Catherine A. John offers a necessary revisiting of negritude, a confidence in her examination of coloniality and gendered identity, and an embrace of magic and spirit and poetry.”-Carole Boyce Davies, Florida International University

• Acknowledgments ixIntroduction: Alternate Consciousness in the Diaspora 11 Paris in 1956: Negritude and Cultural Discourse 212 Colonial Legacies, Gender Identity, and Black Female Writing in the Diaspora 433 Negritude and Negativity: Alienation and "Voice" in Eastern Caribbean Literature 744 Diaspora Philosophy, French Caribbean Literature, and Simone Schwarz-Bart's Pluie et vent sur Telumee Miracle 1145 The Spoken Word and Spirit Consciousness: Audre Lorde and Paule Marshall's Diasporic Voice 158Afterword 203Notes 211Bibliography 227Index 237