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Unraveling Ethnicity: The Construction and Dissolution of Identity in Wendy Rose's Poetics

Unraveling Ethnicity: The Construction and Dissolution of Identity in Wendy Rose's Poetics sail . summer 2004 . vol. 16, no. 2 Unraveling Ethnicity The Construction and Dissolution of Identity in Wendy Rose's Poetics sheila hassell hughes Even at its most personal and confessional, Wendy Rose's poetry is primarily a social practice that seeks a sharing. Products of a selfproclaimed urban "half-breed," her poems do not simply express the struggle for identity; they actually do the work of identity construction itself, through interaction with imagined interlocutors and actual readers over the symbols, practices, and experiences of diverse cultural and religious traditions. This process of self-creation never begins ex nihilo. For Rose, it always depends upon the "given" or "found" aspects of ethnicity and tradition, even when those elements constitute a denial or erasure. Indeed, Rose's work operates doubly. For every act of selfconception, there is a concession to dissolution, and the poetry works as much to undo identity and unravel ethnicity as it does to secure them. Rose's project of self-invention through the act of poesis, or making, is therefore a ritual that must be both actively shared and endlessly repeated. Exploring the dialectic of conception and dissolution in Rose's work, I will analyze both patterns of address and her use http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Studies in American Indian Literatures University of Nebraska Press

Unraveling Ethnicity: The Construction and Dissolution of Identity in Wendy Rose's Poetics

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Publisher
University of Nebraska Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by Sheila Hassell Hughes
ISSN
1548-9590
Publisher site
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Abstract

sail . summer 2004 . vol. 16, no. 2 Unraveling Ethnicity The Construction and Dissolution of Identity in Wendy Rose's Poetics sheila hassell hughes Even at its most personal and confessional, Wendy Rose's poetry is primarily a social practice that seeks a sharing. Products of a selfproclaimed urban "half-breed," her poems do not simply express the struggle for identity; they actually do the work of identity construction itself, through interaction with imagined interlocutors and actual readers over the symbols, practices, and experiences of diverse cultural and religious traditions. This process of self-creation never begins ex nihilo. For Rose, it always depends upon the "given" or "found" aspects of ethnicity and tradition, even when those elements constitute a denial or erasure. Indeed, Rose's work operates doubly. For every act of selfconception, there is a concession to dissolution, and the poetry works as much to undo identity and unravel ethnicity as it does to secure them. Rose's project of self-invention through the act of poesis, or making, is therefore a ritual that must be both actively shared and endlessly repeated. Exploring the dialectic of conception and dissolution in Rose's work, I will analyze both patterns of address and her use

Journal

Studies in American Indian Literatures – University of Nebraska Press

Published: Jul 8, 2004

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