Liberté, Égalité, Sororité: Flora Tristan and the Contact Zone Between Race & Gender

In Pérégrinations d’une paria (1838), Flora Tristan equates a slave’s right to freedom with a woman’s right to divorce. This study will argue that because of Tristan’s unique identity—woman, traveler, writer, pariah—she is able to create a new space for herself and those about whom she writes. Although sometimes hyperbolic and constructivist, Tristan’s work ultimately results in a very powerful final judgment on the inequality present in the worlds she has experienced. Tristan’s portrayal of the slaves she encounters on her journey and her support of legalized divorce show that social reform is always at the forefront for this exploratrice sociale. (jl-s)