Charlotte Hammond Knihy

Entangled Otherness delves into cross-dressing and gender performance in contemporary francophone Caribbean cultures through various visual and textual media. It offers a comparative analysis of Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and their diasporic communities in France, highlighting how strategies of crossing, mimicry, and masquerade have facilitated resistance against the racialized, gendered, and patriarchal classifications rooted in Enlightenment thought during the French transatlantic slave trade. By engaging with archival texts from pre-revolutionary Haiti, the study provides historical context for current Caribbean gender constructions influenced by colonial legacies. The author posits that cross-dressing, as a form of 'self-fabrication,' challenges colonial binaries of identity and resists France's paternalistic perspective. This multidisciplinary examination of gender analysis fosters dialogue through textual and historical analysis, ethnographic interviews, and theoretical insights, emphasizing the need to decolonize Eurocentric interpretations of gender identity in francophone and creolophone regions. The book analyzes various art forms, including film, photography, and performance, particularly focusing on fluid identities within the Afro-Creole religion of Vodou, utilizing contemporary performance and social theory. Entangled Otherness thus contributes significantly to the discourse on gender, sexuality, and the body