Cartographies of Class: Spatial Dynamics of Postcolonial Caribbean Landscape in George Lamming’s In the Castle of My Skin

Abstract

In the Castle of My Skin by George Lamming is a novel that deals with dynamics of spatiality and social class within the Caribbean postcolonial society, particularly in Barbados. This paper is focused on dealing with the spatial arrangements set in the novel in relation to the colonial power structures it symbolizes, to see how they reflect and reinforce class hierarchies. To Lamming, it is in this sense that the village itself becomes an ensemble of colonial society, where domination of land and space is constantly conjoined with all kinds of physical and symbolic power. From theory on spatiality, this paper will thus examine the crossing and intersection of race, class, and colonialism within the construction of social order as incited by Lamming’s work.