The Swinging Bridge
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 First edition | |
| Author | Ramabai Espinet |
|---|---|
| Published | 2003 HarperCollins |
| Publication place | Canada |
| Pages | 320 |
| ISBN | 978-1-4434-2615-2 |
The Swinging Bridge is a novel by Ramabai Espinet, published in 2003 by HarperCollins Publishing. In 2004, the novel was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in the category of Best First Book (Caribbean and Canada Region).[1] Espinet's novel focuses on a multi-generational Indo-Trinidadian family living in Canada, touching on a number of themes and topics such as gender identity and matrilineal ties.[2]
Ramabai Espinet is an Indo-Trinidadian author born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, in 1948. Since she originally migrated to Canada in the 1970s, Espinet has divided her time between the Caribbean and Canada. Espinet received her Ph.D. from the University of the West Indies in Saint Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago after graduating from York University in Toronto, Ontario. She is currently a professor at Seneca College. Some of her other notable works besides The Swinging Bridge include Beyond the Kalapani, The Princess of Spadina, and Ninja's Carnival.[3][4]
The major themes of the novel are:
- Silencing of history and its voices
- Immigration
- Cultural, gender, and sexual oppression[5][2]
- Marginalization of Indo-Caribbean families[6]
- Historical archive with primary sources
- "Double Diaspora" — both the Indian diaspora in the Caribbean and the Indo-Caribbean diaspora in North America (IE: Canada)[1][7]
- Music, songwriting[8]
- Feminism[2][9][4][10]
- Rape and sexual violence[10]