Dies Academicus Katharina Engel, M.A. Jackie Kay's Other Voices: Hybrid Identity in Poetry
17.15 Uhr, Hörsaal IV
Katharina Engel, M.A. (Institut für Anglistik, Amerikanistik und Keltologie)
Jackie Kay's Other Voices: Hybrid Identity in Poetry
(Vortrag in englischer Sprache)
Black, Lesbian, Scottish – these labels are frequently used to put British poet Jackie Kay (*1961) into boxes – along with her works. She is (stereo-) typically seen as a 'marginalised voice' and oftentimes critics neglect to distinguish between the real author Jackie Kay and her poetic personae. Thus they fail to acknowledge Kay's creative work when she fictionalises personal experience. With this in mind, we will look at poems from her first collection The Adoption Papers (1991) up to her latest publication Fiere (2011), focusing on markers of 'otherness' in Kay's poetry: 'other' ethnicities, sexualities, languages. So, the aim of this overview on very different poems is to provide you with some deeper insight into Jackie Kay's complex constructions of hybrid identities.