Re-defining Anglo-Argentine literature: from travel writing to travelling identities

Ferradas, Claudia Mónica (2011) Re-defining Anglo-Argentine literature: from travel writing to travelling identities. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

This study proposes a definition of Anglo-Argentine literature, a literary corpus that has not been explicitly defined, and provides a reading list of Anglo-Argentine works on the basis of that definition.

The research is based on the presupposition that Anglo-Argentine texts can be used to contribute to an intercultural approach to language and literature teaching in the Argentine higher education context. Such texts can encourage reflection on how writing on Argentina in English has contributed to constructing Argentina's multiple identities. Therefore, compiling the titles that make up the corpus of Anglo-Argentine writing, making it available and analysing it critically is the contribution that this thesis aims to make.

To make the findings available to the Argentine ELT (English Language Teaching) community, a webpage accompanies the thesis: http://claudiaferradas.net. The site provides access to the reading list with links to digital publications, intercultural materials on Anglo-Argentine texts and critical articles derived from the thesis.

The compilation of texts does not aim to be exhaustive; it is a critical presentation of the titles identified in terms of the intercultural objectives stated above. As a result, not all titles are discussed in the same degree of detail and some are simply mentioned on the reading list. Two works are selected as 'focus texts' for in-depth analysis and all the works identified are grouped into 'series' with common denominators, which may be thematic or connected to the context of production.

As regards the analytical focus, the thesis traces the construction of the other in early texts and how this representation is reinforced or modified in later works. The other is understood both as the unfamiliar landscape and the native inhabitants: both original inhabitants ('Indians' in the literature) and Gauchos. Urban white creoles are also part of the discussion when the narrator's gaze focuses on them. The theoretical framework for this analysis is based upon post-colonial theory and the notion of transculturation.

Finally, the thesis extends the concept of Anglo-Argentine literature to works produced in English by Argentine writers whose mother tongue is not English and who do not have English-speaking ancestors. This leads to a reconsideration of the definition initially proposed to approach Anglo- Argentine literature as a fluid third place, a subversion of the binary implied by the adjective 'Anglo-Argentine' that embraces travelling identities in constant process of construction in contact with otherness.

Item Type: Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors: McRae, J.
Subjects: F United States local history. History of Canada and Latin America > F1201 Latin America (General)
P Language and literature > PR English literature
Faculties/Schools: UK Campuses > Faculty of Arts > School of English
Item ID: 13238
Depositing User: EP, Services
Date Deposited: 30 Apr 2013 13:53
Last Modified: 15 Dec 2017 07:57
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/13238

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