Spivak and Kincaid: an Analysis of the Reproductive Rights of Subaltern 
Spivak and Kincaid: An Analysis of the Reproductive Rights of Subaltern Colonizers utilize unethical reproduction as a form of domination against women-- and in some cases of resistance, many women may refuse to bear children. Xuela, the protagonist of Jamaica Kincaid's The Autobiography of My Mother is the representation of the colonized in the act of rebellion against their reproduction. Although she refuses to have children, even after pregnancy-- she permeates self-love for her own body and sexuality. Her sexuality serves as a form of autonomy and power over her identity as a woman and over her ethnic identity as Carib. The communities around her treat her as a signifier and range from her childhood classroom to the couple she lives with. Xuela's community around her represents the colonizer of her identity and objectifies her, giving her an identity based on their interpretation. Through several demonstrations of masturbation, Xuela shows that she speaks strongly for her body self-love and her rights, despite her various displacements in life. However, Xuela's perceived agency and her decision to not bear children may be a result of the hegemonic power that colonizers have over the colonized. The effects of settler colonialism and reproduction is illustrated through Dorothy Robert's Killing the Black Body: Reproduction in Bondage; Making Reproduction a Crime; Race and the New Reproduction, Andrea Smith's Conquest: Sexual Violence as a Tool of Genocide; "Better Dead than Pregnant", and Gayatri Spivak's Can the Subaltern Speak? The Autobiography of My Mother takes place in Dominica. After British colonization, the protagonist Xuela's mother dies during childbirth and she experiences abandonment from her father at a young age. He abandons her with his laundress, only making visits to his daughter every time he drops off his dirty clothes. Without the guidance and close support of family members, Xuela grows to be a hardened individual who is