Tidalectic Poetics

The dissertation Tidalectic Poetics analyzes contemporary Anglocreole Caribbean poetry in the cross-section between colonial, environmental and ecological histories. Exploring how the catastrophic consequences of colonization reverberate through time, creating a continued coloniality in Caribbean archipelago, that affects the relation between human and more-than-humans to this very day, the project finds its basis in the poetic-theoretic writing of Barbadian poet, historian, and philosopher Kamau Brathwaite. The study examines the heuristic values of engaging with Brathwaite’s poetic-theoretic writing in decolonial ecological poetry analysis, whilst also drawing on theories and formulations from poetry studies, critical geography, and non-western philosophy. The dissertation strives to demonstrate how Anglocreole Caribbean poetry contributes to a reconsideration of our epistemic categories, and challenges anthropocentric and colonial considerations of time, place and History