TransCanadian Feminist Fictions
New Cross-Border Ethics
A cutting-edge feminist study of borders and transnational ethics in Canadian literature since the turn of the twenty-first century.
Description
In this contradictory era of uneven globalization, borders multiply yet fantasies of borderlessness prevail. Particularly since September 11th, this paradox has shaped deeply the lives of border-crossing subjects such as the queer, the refugee, and the activist within and beyond Canadian frontiers. In search of creative ways to engage with the conundrums related to how borders mould social and bodily space, Libe García Zarranz formulates a new cross-border ethic through post-9/11 feminist and queer transnational writing in Canada. Drawing on material feminism, critical race studies, non-humanist philosophy, and affect theory, she proposes a renewed understanding of relationality beyond the lethal binaries that saturate everyday life. TransCanadian Feminist Fictions considers the corporeal, biopolitical, and affective dimensions of border crossing in the works of Dionne Brand, Emma Donoghue, Hiromi Goto, and Larissa Lai. Intersecting the genres of memoir, fiction, poetry, and young adult literature, García Zarranz shows how these texts address the permeability of boundaries and consider the ethical implications for minoritized populations. Urging readers to question the proclaimed glamours of globality, TransCanadian Feminist Fictions responds to a time of increasing inequality, mounting racism, and feminist backlash.
Reviews
“Garcia Zarranz has assembled a very strong field of Canadian feminist writers who are interpreted via the conceptual frames of contemporary national and international cultural theorists. It is a central part of the appeal of this study that it situates itself firmly in the twenty-first century. This will be an exceedingly useful text that will help both to situate and to advance debates in Canadian studies.” Sneja Gunew, University of British Columbia
“The theoretical claims and scholarly goals here are very timely, and situate this book at the leading edge of Canadian literature research, particularly in terms of its positioning of ‘Canadian’ writing in a circuit that includes globalization studies, ‘transCanada’ studies, and queer/feminist writing.” Heather Smyth, University of Waterloo