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'''Brenda Chester DoHarris''' (born 9 June 1946) is a writer and academic from [[Guyana]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=DoHarris, Brenda|url=https://oxfordaasc.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.001.0001/acref-9780195301731-e-73817|access-date=2020-12-30|website=Oxford African American Studies Center|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.73817|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024}}</ref>
{{BLP sources|date=January 2015}}
'''Brenda Chester DoHarris''' is a writer who was born and raised in [[British Guiana]] (now [[Guyana]]).{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}


==Career==
==Career==
Doharris was born in [[Georgetown, Guyana|Georgetown]], [[British Guiana]] and attended [[Bishops' High School, Guyana|Bishops' High School]] on scholarship. Her education and experience growing up in rural Kitty were a major influence on her writing.<ref name=":0" />
She is a professor of English at [[Bowie State University]] in [[Bowie, Maryland]]{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}, and a graduate of [[Columbia University]]{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} and [[Howard University]],{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} where she received a PhD in English{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}. The first Guyanese woman to run in Guyana for office of presidency of a [[trades union]],{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} she became actively involved in the Guyanese political movement for [[democracy]] during the 1970s.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

She is a professor of English at [[Bowie State University]] in [[Bowie, Maryland]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Preserving our literary heritage|url=https://guyanachronicle.com/2010/03/07/preserving-our-literary-heritage-7/|access-date=2020-12-30|website=Guyana Chronicle|date=7 March 2010 |language=en-US}}</ref> and a graduate of [[Columbia University]]<ref name=":1" /> and [[Howard University]], where she received a B.A. (1970) then M.S. (1972) in English.<ref name=":0" /> The first Guyanese woman to run in Guyana for office of presidency of a [[trades union]],{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} she became actively involved in the Guyanese political movement for [[democracy]] during the 1970s.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}


She has travelled widely in [[Africa]], the [[Caribbean]] and China, where she attended the U.S./China Joint Conference on Women's Issues.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} Her area of scholarly interest is post-colonial women's literature.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}
She has travelled widely in [[Africa]], the [[Caribbean]] and China, where she attended the U.S./China Joint Conference on Women's Issues.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} Her area of scholarly interest is post-colonial women's literature.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}


==Works==
==Works==
Her novel ''The Coloured Girl in the Ring: A Guyanese Woman Remembers'' (1997) is a fictional exploration of a young Black woman's coming of age in British Guiana of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Told against the backdrop of political and racial turbulence, the novel employs a first-person narrative format and proffers a well-defined portrait of the main character's recollection of her family life, her oppressive school teachers, her friends' doomed inter-racial romance and her thoughts on race and identity. According to a review in the College Language Association Journal, "The story is remarkable for its picture of a Guyanese village, but it requires a sequel to truly explore the life of this nameless narrator, who remains more an onlooker and reporter than the central persona of this piece."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dance|first=Daryl Cumber|date=September 1998|title=Review of The Colored Girl in the Ring: A Guyanese Woman Remembers by Brenda Chester DoHarris|url=https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1142&context=english-faculty-publications|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-29|website=|publisher=College Language Association|pages=118-23}}</ref>
Her novel ''The Coloured Girl in the Ring: A Guyanese Woman Remembers'' (1997) is a fictional exploration of a young Black woman's coming of age in British Guiana of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Told against the backdrop of political and racial turbulence, the novel employs a first-person narrative format and proffers a well-defined portrait of the main character's recollection of her family life, her oppressive school teachers, her friends' doomed inter-racial romance and her thoughts on race and identity.


According to a review in the College Language Association Journal, "The story is remarkable for its picture of a Guyanese village, but it requires a sequel to truly explore the life of this nameless narrator, who remains more an onlooker and reporter than the central persona of this piece."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dance|first=Daryl Cumber|date=September 1998|title=Review of The Colored Girl in the Ring: A Guyanese Woman Remembers by Brenda Chester DoHarris|url=https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1142&context=english-faculty-publications|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-29|website=|publisher=College Language Association|pages=118–23}}</ref> A review from Kaieteur News describes it as "...a bitter-sweet narrative, one that is poignant and deeply moving, and made even more so by a feminist perspective that rightly celebrates the sustaining role of women in colonised societies."<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-06-20|title=BOOK REVIEW|url=https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2010/06/20/book-review-3/|access-date=2020-12-30|website=Kaieteur News|language=en-US}}</ref>
Her latest novel, ''Calabash Parkway'' (2005), is about Guyanese immigrant women in Brooklyn, New York, women who struggle against the odds to gain legal residence.

''Calabash Parkway'' (2005) is about Guyanese immigrant women in Brooklyn, New York, women who struggle against the odds to gain legal residence.

Doharris was a contributor for ''Walter A. Rodney: A Promise of Revolution'' by Clairmont Chung. 2012. ({{ISBN|9781583673287}})<ref>{{Cite web|last=Chung|first=Clairmont|title=Monthly Review {{!}} Walter A. Rodney: A Promise of Revolution|url=https://monthlyreview.org/product/walter_a_rodney/|access-date=2020-12-30|website=Monthly Review|date=30 September 2008 |language=en-US}}</ref>


==Awards==
==Awards==
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==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}



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[[Category:Bowie State University faculty]]
[[Category:Bowie State University faculty]]
[[Category:Guyanese emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Guyanese emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:American people of Guyanese descent]]
[[Category:Guyanese novelists]]
[[Category:Guyanese novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century novelists]]
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[[Category:20th-century women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century women writers]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:1946 births]]

Latest revision as of 04:39, 2 November 2024

Brenda Chester DoHarris (born 9 June 1946) is a writer and academic from Guyana.[1]

Career

[edit]

Doharris was born in Georgetown, British Guiana and attended Bishops' High School on scholarship. Her education and experience growing up in rural Kitty were a major influence on her writing.[1]

She is a professor of English at Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland,[2] and a graduate of Columbia University[2] and Howard University, where she received a B.A. (1970) then M.S. (1972) in English.[1] The first Guyanese woman to run in Guyana for office of presidency of a trades union,[citation needed] she became actively involved in the Guyanese political movement for democracy during the 1970s.[citation needed]

She has travelled widely in Africa, the Caribbean and China, where she attended the U.S./China Joint Conference on Women's Issues.[citation needed] Her area of scholarly interest is post-colonial women's literature.[citation needed]

Works

[edit]

Her novel The Coloured Girl in the Ring: A Guyanese Woman Remembers (1997) is a fictional exploration of a young Black woman's coming of age in British Guiana of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Told against the backdrop of political and racial turbulence, the novel employs a first-person narrative format and proffers a well-defined portrait of the main character's recollection of her family life, her oppressive school teachers, her friends' doomed inter-racial romance and her thoughts on race and identity.

According to a review in the College Language Association Journal, "The story is remarkable for its picture of a Guyanese village, but it requires a sequel to truly explore the life of this nameless narrator, who remains more an onlooker and reporter than the central persona of this piece."[3] A review from Kaieteur News describes it as "...a bitter-sweet narrative, one that is poignant and deeply moving, and made even more so by a feminist perspective that rightly celebrates the sustaining role of women in colonised societies."[4]

Calabash Parkway (2005) is about Guyanese immigrant women in Brooklyn, New York, women who struggle against the odds to gain legal residence.

Doharris was a contributor for Walter A. Rodney: A Promise of Revolution by Clairmont Chung. 2012. (ISBN 9781583673287)[5]

Awards

[edit]

Calabash Parkway won the Guyana Prize for Literature.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "DoHarris, Brenda". Oxford African American Studies Center. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.73817 (inactive 1 November 2024). Retrieved 2020-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  2. ^ a b "Preserving our literary heritage". Guyana Chronicle. 7 March 2010. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  3. ^ Dance, Daryl Cumber (September 1998). "Review of The Colored Girl in the Ring: A Guyanese Woman Remembers by Brenda Chester DoHarris". College Language Association. pp. 118–23. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  4. ^ "BOOK REVIEW". Kaieteur News. 2010-06-20. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  5. ^ Chung, Clairmont (30 September 2008). "Monthly Review | Walter A. Rodney: A Promise of Revolution". Monthly Review. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  6. ^ "Calabash Parkway: A Novel" Reviewed by Gokarran Sukhdeo, Guyana Journal