No holding back now: the Americanization of Caribbean women's identities

Author (Your Name)

Mieko R. McKay, Colby College

Date of Award

2001

Document Type

Honors Thesis (Colby Access Only)

Department

Colby College. Anthropology Dept.

Advisor(s)

Maritza Straughn-Williams

Abstract

This notion of a cross-cultural connection among blacks, particularly black women, around the concept of identity formation interested to me because I recognized that black women shared similar experiences globally. I was searching for evidence to support my idea of the African Diaspora, as well as data on the vision of a universal black identity that may have come about as a result of continuous exposure to American media images of black people. I had seen the effects of the media on young black women in the United States and questioned if the effects were exhibited similarly on black women elsewhere, who are also subjected to American media images. In examining these issues I focused on the following: What is the influence of the media on black women in the Caribbean? How do women deal with these influences? And how does the media affect gender relations? These are some of the questions that I asked myself and the young, middle-class women that I interviewed to get a better understanding of the similarities that exist between black women of different regions as a result of the media's influence.

Comments

Full-text download restricted to Colby College campus only.

Keywords

Identity (Psychology) -- Caribbean Area, Women -- Social conditions -- Cross-cultural studies, Identity (Psychology) -- Cross-cultural studies, Group identity -- Caribbean Area, Americanization

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