“The Only Way Out Is In”: Power, Race, and Sexuality Under Capitalism inThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Abstract

The essay argues that Junot Díaz’s 2007 novel—and, coextensively, the author’s interviews and public commentaries—engage in ideological critique of how racialized masculinity, femininity, and sexuality are produced by the disciplining discourses of U.S., Dominican, and diasporic society and culture. Departing from prevailing readings, the essay asserts that Díaz allegorizes both the repressive and the harder-to-resist, productive forms of postcolonial power, elaborating a non-emancipatory version of decolonization.

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