La Djablesse: Between Martinique, Trinidad (and Tobago), and its Pan-Caribbean Dimension

Abstract

AbstractThis article compares the folkloric character La Djablesse as presented on two Caribbean islands: Martinique and Trinidad. It examines the importance of this feminine figure who comes from black Créole oral stories, combining contemporary oral accounts with written historical transcriptions enriched by the use of photographic materials. La Djablesse is a female demon who uses her charms to kill or challenge men’s machismo and misogyny; she teases men and the concept of masculinity while challenging ideas of domination using her sexuality. This article analyzes how this figure binds together colonial memories and postcolonial re-elaboration of gender stereotypes where eroticism is questioned in contemporary feminine representations. The article shows how this feminine folkloric figure embodies stereotypical womanhood(s) that are present in contemporary male desires. Moreover, it includes a regression to the Haitian Vodou pantheon evoked by the interlocutors, which opens the investigation on a pan-Caribbean perspective.