This study examines the characteristics of African American literature, employing Bakhtinian heteroglossia. Naylor"s interests in the African heritage are expressed in Mama Day, which is created in a heteroglot situation, exploring African American existence and experiences. Also, Naylor, as an African American female writer, is keenly aware that race and gender are interwoven and that being a black woman is inseparable. Bakhtinian dialogism will be useful to understand Naylor"s Mama Day as African American literature because dialogism deals with heteroglossia in which the social, cultural, and ideological struggles are embedded.<BR> Naylor"s Mama Day has the dynamics of heteroglossia, weaving the African-American narrative from the discourse of "Signifyin(g)," African American vernacular, and call-and-response narrative. Moreover, the self-other relationship in Mama Day is foregrounded, revealing socio-ideological contradictions in heteroglossia. Cocoa Day, for instance, gets involved in a dialogic self-other relationship through valuing heteroglossia in the culturally diverse society. The dialogues between Cocoa and George, the living and the dead, reveal the African-American call-and-response tradition, constructing the narrative structure of the text and generating heteroglossia. I explore how Naylor cherishes the idiosyncratic African American culture on the island and presents the culture as it is, while challenging the mainstream cultural superiority beyond the bridge and thus reinforcing the heteroglot cultural diversity.
1. Introduction<BR>2. The Inheritance of African American Literature in Mama Day<BR>3. Heteroglossia in Mama Day as African American Literature<BR>4. Racial and Gender Issues and Heteroglossia<BR>5. Conclusion<BR>Works Cited<BR>Abstract<BR>
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