The Real and the Symbolic in Selections of Performance Poetry from John Agard’s Alternative Anthem (2009) and Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze’s Third World Girl (2011): A Psycho-Cultural Approach

Abstract

This thesis explores Žižek’s psycho-cultural theories about the British symbolic reality within the context of performance poetry. According to Žižek, symbolic reality denotes a fictitious perception of the world, a perception that conforms to the ideological fantasies formulated by a hegemonic power. In formulating these fantasies, language becomes the most instrumental tool of symbolic subjectivization by the big Other, i.e. the personification of the dominant symbolic order. Language subjugates the others of the symbolic order; anyone who is different is expected to assimilate the dominant culture’s language, ideology and identity. The thesis thus postulates that the performance poetry event allows the subjects of the British symbolic to come into direct contact with the Caribbean other, i.e. the poet. Within this encounter, the alienated other and his/her culture, language and traditions come into close proximity with the hitherto shielded subjects. When confronted with the other’s gaze and voice, as well as the language, thoughts and beliefs imbuing the other’s poems, the spectating subjects’ subjectivity is threatened by the real that has been excluded from their symbolic reality. By attending the performance poetry event, the audience members risk