Chapter 13 - Digital Yards: Caribbean Writing on Social Media and Other Digital Platforms

Summary

The globalizing and interconnecting effects of technology in the twenty-first century have had a crucial impact on the development of Caribbean literary culture and the reconfiguration of its audiences. Caribbean writing and literary criticism are reaching wider audiences within the region and beyond via myriad digital platforms. Through social media, blogs, online journals, digital archives and the websites of publishing houses and festivals, the news and content of Caribbean literary work has become more accessible. Examining networks of ‘digital yards’, a concept built on Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s work, this essay surveys twenty-first century forms of digital Caribbean literary production while considering the continuities that remain between earlier forms of representation and Caribbean literary culture online today.