"I had drunk the sparkling waters of the Demerara River" : Afro-Guyanese women's embodiment and self-referential practices

This paper focuses on Afro-Guyanese women’s literary and visual meditations on the rivers that run through Guyana and the Atlantic Ocean that borders the country. In this report, I examine Carmen Subryan’s Black-Water Women and Dominique Hunter’s Transplantation to discuss the transtemporal connection between Guyanese women’s bodies and the physical and political environment of Guyana. Afro-Guyanese women’s meditations on their material experiences highlight the way post-colonial political arrangements are hinged on gendered-based violence in the country. Further, I offer that focusing on the historical lineages of the river that flow into the Atlantic Ocean, which may broaden our understanding of the Black Atlantic.