Margaret Cunningham

Thesis title: Narratives of Disaster in the French Caribbean

My research explores disaster literature in the French Caribbean, specifically in Martinique and Guadeloupe, through the lens of the emerging interdisciplinary field of disaster studies. Central to this research is the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée, the worst volcanic disaster of the twentieth century. My current research aims to explore the ways in which Martinican authors—from different backgrounds and writing in different eras—bear witness to and measure the cultural effects of this disaster through fiction. This thesis seeks to make an important contribution to the interface of Francophone studies, Postcolonial studies and disaster studies.