Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Literary Arts

First Advisor

Kristy Ulibarri

Second Advisor

Lisa Martinez

Third Advisor

Billy Stratton

Keywords

Authority, Borders, Dominican American, Migrant literature, Transnational novels, Women writers

Abstract

Border crossing(s) and personal sovereignty are intimately and complexly connected in novels by and about Dominican American women. Through readings of In the Name of Salomé by Julia Alvarez, Dominicana by Angie Cruz, and The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, I argue that patriarchal forms of authority remove female autonomy by trespassing on personal boundaries, and that the renegotiation of that power is achieved through formations of community, especially with other women, through nonheteronormative relationships that are present inside and extend outside the text. The interplay of patriarchal authority, violence, and alienation on the four protagonists is examined at length, and I end by exploring personal sovereignty through community building as a remediation to patriarchal structures of power.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Leia M. Lynn

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

126 pgs

Discipline

Latin American literature, American literature, Caribbean studies

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