Dionne Brand in 2009. Simon Fraser University, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
Perhaps you’re planning on reading No Language is Neutral soon, or you’re excited to teach it in your classes—whatever your interest, this CanLit Guides chapter on No Language is Neutral by Carl Watts will be a fantastic resource:
Dionne Brand’s No Language Is Neutral (1990) is a set of poems that can be understood as a meditation on migration. The book addresses the theme of movement from one location to another as it describes a journey from the Caribbean to Canada. In doing so, it outlines (and asks questions about) a conception of identity that is influenced by movement, dislocation, and variability. The following sections of this chapter summarize some scholarly debates that have taken place around No Language Is Neutral and outline some strategies for interpreting how Brand treats the experience of migration and related topics.
Read “Dionne Brand: No Language is Neutral”
CanLit Guides, created and maintained by Canadian Literature, is a open-access collection of learning materials on different topics in the field of Canadian literature. The CanLit Guides 2018 Collection is the result of collaboration between experts in the field and our editorial team. The chapters here cover a range of topics, time periods, and genres, and show the dynamic ways scholars are engaging with literatures in Canada today.