In Caribbean Transnationalism, Rubin Gowricharn finds that the Caribbean “has always had a romantic appeal to the imagination of the outsider… these notions are then attributed to the whole region.” Using Gowricharn’s assertion as a starting point, this panel aims to interrogate deconstructions of the “paradise myth.” If, as Ian Stracharn asserts, “Under tourism, ‘paradise’ becomes more than a myth; it becomes a product, an item for sale,” in what ways does contemporary Caribbean literature resist a culture of tourism? In what ways does literature offer a rebuttal to the myth of the Caribbean and push back against connotations of paradise, relaxation and adventure?

Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words to Jennifer Donahue (jldonahue@fsu.edu) by Sunday, December 9.