Current Search: African Americans in literature (x)
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- Title
- NEGRO WOMEN AS SEEN BY WHITE AMERICAN NOVELISTS, 1925-1935.
- Creator
- DOHNER, ELLEN H., Florida Atlantic University, Coyle, William
- Date Issued
- 1970
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13421
- Subject Headings
- African Americans in literature, African American women
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Bingo and other stories.
- Creator
- Peacock, Richard., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
"Bingo" and Other Stories is a collection of short stories whose individual primary characters are forced to make profound changes in the wake of a discovery that comes about as a result of a tragedy or strained personal relationship or a combination of both. This collection is multigenerational in its collective scope and it reflects influences that come from the African-American and Southern literary traditions. In addition, it uses realism to create the settings for and sensibilities of...
Show more"Bingo" and Other Stories is a collection of short stories whose individual primary characters are forced to make profound changes in the wake of a discovery that comes about as a result of a tragedy or strained personal relationship or a combination of both. This collection is multigenerational in its collective scope and it reflects influences that come from the African-American and Southern literary traditions. In addition, it uses realism to create the settings for and sensibilities of the characters who populate the stories. Stories in the collection are also connected in how they conjure up various geographical locations in Florida, especially regions of Florida that identify with the traditional American South.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186770
- Subject Headings
- Symbolism in literature, Short stories, American, Conduct of life, Southern States, In literature, African Americans in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Bleeding roots: the absence and evidence of the lynched black female body.
- Creator
- Williams, Tinea., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
Scholars of the literary depictions of lynching have given the majority of their attention to the emasculation of the black male, but the representation of the black female lynch victim has been overlooked. My thesis examines the deaths of black women that had the same effect as lynching practices used against men. This specific literary form of lynching will concentrate on two plays: Mary P. Burrill's They That Sit in Darkness (1919) and Marita Bonner's Exit: An Illusion (1929) and two...
Show moreScholars of the literary depictions of lynching have given the majority of their attention to the emasculation of the black male, but the representation of the black female lynch victim has been overlooked. My thesis examines the deaths of black women that had the same effect as lynching practices used against men. This specific literary form of lynching will concentrate on two plays: Mary P. Burrill's They That Sit in Darkness (1919) and Marita Bonner's Exit: An Illusion (1929) and two novels by Toni Morrison, Beloved and Sula. Considering the contours of these black female deaths we can expand the traditional definition of lynching to include the black female lynch victim. The aspects that make her death a lynching are encased in more subtleties than a traditional definition of lynching allows for, and less visible.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/199329
- Subject Headings
- African Americans, Crimes against, Lynching in literature, African Americans in literature, Race relations, History and criticism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Multicultural criticism and the problem of critical uniformity: A reading of Gloria Naylor's "Linden Hills".
- Creator
- Lombard, Cathy Eunice., Florida Atlantic University, Martin, Thomas L.
- Abstract/Description
-
Much of postcolonial and feminist criticisms reflect on how the oppressor-oppressed relationship of the past affects the present. However, possible-worlds theory expands these critical borders and respects the differences existing between textual world and actual world, supplying readers with the interpretive power to recognize that every past and present is complete with "possibilities" not yet explored. The fantastical elements of Gloria Naylor's narrative worlds complement the overall...
Show moreMuch of postcolonial and feminist criticisms reflect on how the oppressor-oppressed relationship of the past affects the present. However, possible-worlds theory expands these critical borders and respects the differences existing between textual world and actual world, supplying readers with the interpretive power to recognize that every past and present is complete with "possibilities" not yet explored. The fantastical elements of Gloria Naylor's narrative worlds complement the overall fiction. Through three conflicting narrative frames, she shows characters negotiating their assigned space in the inverted world of Linden Hills, not a mimetic representation exactly but reminiscent of Dante and Poe and compelling on its own. Forcing the reader to reevaluate settled assumptions about the actual world, in Linden Hills, Naylor presents the generational re-spawning, and ultimately the breaking, of patriarchy concentrated in the figure of Luther Nedeed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2002
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12885
- Subject Headings
- Naylor, Gloria--Linden Hills, African Americans in literature, Feminist literary criticism, Possibility in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Black woman as an erotic being in Spanish-Caribbean narrative.
- Creator
- Henry, Marlyn Fay., Florida Atlantic University, Erro-Peralta, Nora
- Abstract/Description
-
Characterization of Black women as erotic beings in Spanish-Caribbean narrative has shifted significantly from 1880 to 1990. Their representation as totally submissive and erotic beings has evolved into that of socially conscious and self accepting Black women. In Villaverde's Cecilia Valdes (1882), Cecilia and Maria de la Regla are depicted as objects of male sexual desires. Diaz's Pascua in Cumboto (1948) and Asturias' Mulata de tal (1963), although eroticized, insinuate an underlying...
Show moreCharacterization of Black women as erotic beings in Spanish-Caribbean narrative has shifted significantly from 1880 to 1990. Their representation as totally submissive and erotic beings has evolved into that of socially conscious and self accepting Black women. In Villaverde's Cecilia Valdes (1882), Cecilia and Maria de la Regla are depicted as objects of male sexual desires. Diaz's Pascua in Cumboto (1948) and Asturias' Mulata de tal (1963), although eroticized, insinuate an underlying androgynous nature which makes them more assertive in their use of sexuality. However, it is contemporary women writers who dismantle the erotic stereotype: Ferre's "Cuando las mujeres quieren a los hombres" (1974) portrays a Black prostitute who, advances socially and economically. Cabrera's Nana in "La tesorera del diablo" (1971) is the bearer of ancestral knowledge and moral values, and Cartagena Portalatin's Aurora, in "La llamaban Aurora," (1978) speaks forcefully on social issues and fully accepts herself as a Black woman.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1994
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15115
- Subject Headings
- Latin American literature--History and criticism, Caribbean literature (Spanish), African American women in literature, Sex symbolism, Sex role in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Establishing the Bondmother: Examining the Categorization of Maternal Figures in Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Paradise.
- Creator
- Tisdale, Ashely, Hagood, Taylor, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
Literary scholars have been examining and recreating the experiences of “bonded” female characters within Toni Morrison’s novels for decades. However, the distinct experiences of these enslaved women, that are also mothers have not been astutely examined by scholars and deserves more attention. My thesis fleshes out the characterization of several of Morrison’s bonded-mothers and identifies them as a part of a developing controlling image and theory, called the bondmother. Situating these...
Show moreLiterary scholars have been examining and recreating the experiences of “bonded” female characters within Toni Morrison’s novels for decades. However, the distinct experiences of these enslaved women, that are also mothers have not been astutely examined by scholars and deserves more attention. My thesis fleshes out the characterization of several of Morrison’s bonded-mothers and identifies them as a part of a developing controlling image and theory, called the bondmother. Situating these characters within this category allows readers to trace their journeys towards freedom and personal redemption. This character tracing will occur by examining the following Toni Morrison novels: Beloved (1987) and Paradise (1997). In order to fully examine the experiences of these characters it will be necessary for me to expand the definition of bondage and mother.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004696, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004696
- Subject Headings
- African American families in literature, African American women in literature, Morrison, Toni -- Beloved -- Criticism and interpretation, Morrison, Toni -- Characters -- Mothers, Morrison, Toni -- Paradise -- Criticism and interpretation, Morrison, Toni -- Political and social views, Motherhood in literature, Slavery in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Silence and sympathy: Race in the early short fiction of William Faulkner.
- Creator
- Gifford, Sheryl C., Florida Atlantic University, Blakemore, Steven
- Abstract/Description
-
Much critical debate has surrounded William Faulkner's treatment of race relations in the South; indeed, it is difficult to believe that a white Southern male could transcend the psychosocial realities that led to racial divisions in the post-Civil War South. However, Faulkner, as the "well-endowed" Aristotelian poet, was able to involve himself in the emotions he sought to imitate, and thus was able to transcend racial issues in the compact fictive space he established. Intent upon mastering...
Show moreMuch critical debate has surrounded William Faulkner's treatment of race relations in the South; indeed, it is difficult to believe that a white Southern male could transcend the psychosocial realities that led to racial divisions in the post-Civil War South. However, Faulkner, as the "well-endowed" Aristotelian poet, was able to involve himself in the emotions he sought to imitate, and thus was able to transcend racial issues in the compact fictive space he established. Intent upon mastering the intricacies of the short story, Faulkner, the self-admitted "failed poet," utilizes this genre to construct a subtle yet powerful critique of hypocritical racial divisions common in the postbellum South. The silences and subversive sympathies that abound in such short stories as "Dry September" and "That Evening Sun" are caught up within the confines of this fictive space, provoking the reader to resolve the discrepancies that purposefully exist.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1999
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15708
- Subject Headings
- Faulkner, William,--1897-1962--Political and social views., Race relations in literature., African Americans in literature., Southern States--In literature.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Toni Morrison's "Beloved": From the middle realm to apocalyptic visions.
- Creator
- King, Natalie, Florida Atlantic University, Paton, Priscilla
- Abstract/Description
-
Toni Morrison's black characters in her novel Beloved dwell in a middle realm between slavery and a life full of responsibility. This middle realm or "safe" haven enables them to "disremember" past injustices. However, it also renders them disabled when trying to resolve moral issues, and allows them to exist blindly within the confines of an isolated illusion of almost pubescent security. In this state, characters have the certainty of the horrors of slavery behind them, but they have the...
Show moreToni Morrison's black characters in her novel Beloved dwell in a middle realm between slavery and a life full of responsibility. This middle realm or "safe" haven enables them to "disremember" past injustices. However, it also renders them disabled when trying to resolve moral issues, and allows them to exist blindly within the confines of an isolated illusion of almost pubescent security. In this state, characters have the certainty of the horrors of slavery behind them, but they have the uncertainty of the future ahead. Morrison's characters require the motivation of an apocalyptic upheaval (revelation or unveiling) as a catalyst to move them from that area of stasis and emotional impasse to the next level of their development and finally toward a sense of community. This movement from the middle realm to the apocalypse is conveyed by Morrison through myths drawn from several cultures. Her ability to manipulate and meld these myths provides the link to humanity's quest for control in an illusory world, and growth initiated by apocalyptic awakenings.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1994
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15036
- Subject Headings
- Morrison, Toni--Criticism and interpretation, Morrison, Toni--Beloved, African Americans in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Sentimental spirits: saving the soul while seizing the heart and swaying the mind.
- Creator
- Rovere, Michelle, Bradford, Adam C., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
During the nineteenth century, African American women like Jarena Lee, Zilpha Elaw, and Julia Foote wrote narratives of their spiritual conversions. Through their efforts and the efforts of others like them, spiritual autobiographies became not only evangelical tools but also a means of shaping African American culture and American society in general. While some black women were working to claim power for their gender and race by writing spiritual narratives, other women, both black and white...
Show moreDuring the nineteenth century, African American women like Jarena Lee, Zilpha Elaw, and Julia Foote wrote narratives of their spiritual conversions. Through their efforts and the efforts of others like them, spiritual autobiographies became not only evangelical tools but also a means of shaping African American culture and American society in general. While some black women were working to claim power for their gender and race by writing spiritual narratives, other women, both black and white, were working with sentimental literature to achieve similar goals.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004463, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004463
- Subject Headings
- African American aesthetics, African American women authors -- 19th century -- Criticism and interpretation, American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism, American literature -- African American authors, Antislavery movements in literature, Elaw, Zilpha -- approximately 1790- -- Criticism and interpretation, Emotions in literature, Foote, Julia A.J. -- 1823-1900 -- Criticism and interpretation, Lee, Jarena -- 1783- -- Criticism and interpretation, Spirituality in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- "Thick love" vs. "thin love": The maternal role in the African American attainment of individuation in Morrison's "Jazz" and "Beloved".
- Creator
- Waite, Simone Lora., Florida Atlantic University, Furman, Andrew
- Abstract/Description
-
In Jazz and Beloved Morrison explores the difficulties of the acquisition of selfhood for African Americans. In the novels, Morrison examines these difficulties focussing especially on the maternal role. Offering no facile solutions, these narratives do share characteristics common to individuals attaining individuation. A person's relationship with the mother and ability to confront his history, no matter how painful, are integral elements to any presence of self-worth. Although far from...
Show moreIn Jazz and Beloved Morrison explores the difficulties of the acquisition of selfhood for African Americans. In the novels, Morrison examines these difficulties focussing especially on the maternal role. Offering no facile solutions, these narratives do share characteristics common to individuals attaining individuation. A person's relationship with the mother and ability to confront his history, no matter how painful, are integral elements to any presence of self-worth. Although far from didactic, one truth examined in the novels is the need for Africans in America to create their own definitions of their history. African American figures, maternal and otherwise have been traditionally defined by the oppressive society, using stereotypes inherited from slavery. Jazz and Beloved are reclamations of these definitions. Reclamations Morrison has asserted are necessary for the posterity of her people. How do African Americans attain selfhood when they do not even own themselves? The solutions to this problem are multifaceted. Morrison's novels urge the African American to confront the history and redefine myths that have often undermined the process.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1999
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15662
- Subject Headings
- Morrison, Toni--Criticism and interpretation, Morrison, Toni--Beloved, Morrison, Toni--Jazz, African American women in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Moses, the two-headed doctor.
- Creator
- LaCrone, Frederick Palmer., Florida Atlantic University, Stover, Johnnie
- Abstract/Description
-
Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Moses, Man of the Mountain, is a metaphor of the African-American striving for liberation. It uses the Exodus story from the Hebrew scriptures as a trope of oppression, struggle, and hope. Hurston uses duality and ambiguity to delineate the issues of struggle, allowing the reader to determine the significance of the narrative. Moses emerges as a "two-headed doctor," an African-American term for a powerful conjurer. Moses is presented as an agent of God and at the...
Show moreZora Neale Hurston's novel, Moses, Man of the Mountain, is a metaphor of the African-American striving for liberation. It uses the Exodus story from the Hebrew scriptures as a trope of oppression, struggle, and hope. Hurston uses duality and ambiguity to delineate the issues of struggle, allowing the reader to determine the significance of the narrative. Moses emerges as a "two-headed doctor," an African-American term for a powerful conjurer. Moses is presented as an agent of God and at the same time a source of power for the benefit of the people.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2001
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12755
- Subject Headings
- Hurston, Zora Neale--Moses, man of the mountain, African Americans in literature, Hurston, Zora Neale--Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The making of a radical: W. E. B. Du Bois's turn to the left.
- Creator
- Vivian, Johan Donald., Florida Atlantic University, Lewis, Krishnakali
- Abstract/Description
-
During his lifetime, W. E. B. Du Bois grew increasingly leftist. His early writings showed his optimism; his later works showed no such upbeat tone. Several developments fueled this metamorphosis: his controversies with Booker T. Washington; his two acrimonious departures from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; his arrest and trial as an unregistered foreign agent. In his early writings, Du Bois frequently mentions being "above the veil." In later works, the...
Show moreDuring his lifetime, W. E. B. Du Bois grew increasingly leftist. His early writings showed his optimism; his later works showed no such upbeat tone. Several developments fueled this metamorphosis: his controversies with Booker T. Washington; his two acrimonious departures from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; his arrest and trial as an unregistered foreign agent. In his early writings, Du Bois frequently mentions being "above the veil." In later works, the metaphorical garment--when mentioned at all--has become a prison. His early belief that the advancement of Negroes would depend on science and rational discourse was eventually replaced with a conviction that only economic reconstruction would allow his people to rend the veil keeping them in check and permit the working class--black and white--to cast off its chains.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1997
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15387
- Subject Headings
- Du Bois, W E B--(William Edward Burghardt),--1868-1963--Political and social views, African Americans in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Earth, water, and black bodies: elements at work in Toni Morrison's literary landscape.
- Creator
- Anderson, Pauline P., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
This project focuses on the natural elements earth and water as presented in the works of African American author Toni Morrison. The primary texts analyzed are Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. In the first two novels, Morrison alludes to the abuse of black bodies by drawing parallels between the destruction of trees and the negative effects of urbanization. I argue that environmental destruction and urbanization parallels the disenfranchisement and killing of black bodies. Water in Beloved...
Show moreThis project focuses on the natural elements earth and water as presented in the works of African American author Toni Morrison. The primary texts analyzed are Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. In the first two novels, Morrison alludes to the abuse of black bodies by drawing parallels between the destruction of trees and the negative effects of urbanization. I argue that environmental destruction and urbanization parallels the disenfranchisement and killing of black bodies. Water in Beloved connotes bondage because of its historical link to the Triangular Trade. However, considering Morrison's frequent mention of water and the fugitives' constant need to drink, I argue that ingesting water symbolizes a need for psychological freedom. All of the novels that I have analyzed emphasize the complex connections between African Americans and nature.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3356892
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, African Americans in literature, African American philosophy, Human ecology in literature, Nature in literature, Ecocriticism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Color lines: "Passing" and its implications for literary subjectivity in Richard Wright and Boris Vian.
- Creator
- Guillerm, Celine, Florida Atlantic University, Munson, Marcella L.
- Abstract/Description
-
If mid-twentieth-century African-American authors based discussions of race in America on the theories of prominent Franco-African writers, African-American writers such as Richard Wright were also highly influential in discussions of race in the French literary context. Wright's novel Native Son focuses on protagonist Bigger Thomas, a young black man who accidentally commits murder. After realizing how the white community has interpreted his act, Bigger tries without success to break free of...
Show moreIf mid-twentieth-century African-American authors based discussions of race in America on the theories of prominent Franco-African writers, African-American writers such as Richard Wright were also highly influential in discussions of race in the French literary context. Wright's novel Native Son focuses on protagonist Bigger Thomas, a young black man who accidentally commits murder. After realizing how the white community has interpreted his act, Bigger tries without success to break free of "double consciousness," or fragmented subjectivity, first articulated by W. E. B. DuBois. Boris Vian's text J'irai cracher sur vos tombes problematizes Wright's literary analysis of race through protagonist Lee Anderson, an explicit literary reworking of Bigger. Lee, in deliberately passing as white in order to murder two women, displays a more deliberate subjectivity. The act of passing erodes the legal foundation of black segregation and highlights a more active subjectivity, yet it also displays the limitations encoded in that act.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13262
- Subject Headings
- Racially mixed people--United States., African Americans--Race identity., African Americans in literature., Passing (Identity) in literature., Group identity in literature., Vian, Boris,--1920-1959.--J'irai cracker sur vos tombes., Wright, Richard,--1908-1960.--Native son.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Negative capability and isolation in James Weldon Johnson's "The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man".
- Creator
- Iannicelli, Regina., Florida Atlantic University, Coyle, William
- Abstract/Description
-
There is much disagreement and uncertainty among critics over the message in James Weldon Johnson's novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man. It has been misconstrued as a "passing novel" or as another novel with the "tragic mulatto" theme. In James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man the double consciousness of the protagonist reveals the central concerns Johnson had about racial identity and individual psychology. The protagonist's choices are between isolation and...
Show moreThere is much disagreement and uncertainty among critics over the message in James Weldon Johnson's novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man. It has been misconstrued as a "passing novel" or as another novel with the "tragic mulatto" theme. In James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man the double consciousness of the protagonist reveals the central concerns Johnson had about racial identity and individual psychology. The protagonist's choices are between isolation and integration, the central issue in Johnson's later published pamphlet Negro Americans What Now? He believed that successful integration could occur through the arts and education. By the protagonist's revealing that he is capable of experiencing negative capability in Europe, Johnson describes the atmosphere to be striven for in America through social change.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1992
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14852
- Subject Headings
- Johnson, James Weldon,--1871-1938--Criticism and interpretation, Johnson, James Weldon,--1871-1938--Autobiography of an ex-coloured man, African Americans in literature, Racism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The mythic quest for selfhood in Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye," "Song of Solomon," and "Beloved".
- Creator
- Golden, Diane M., Florida Atlantic University, Coyle, William
- Abstract/Description
-
Toni Morrison's purpose in her novels is to encourage her readers to imitate her heroes' journey in their own lives. Through her protagonists' successes and failures on their monomythic quests (to use the term of Joseph Campbell), Morrison educates her readers. Campbell states that a successful hero must complete three phases: separation, initiation, and return. In The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove's poor choices cause failure; she stays in the separation phase. Milkman Dead from Song of...
Show moreToni Morrison's purpose in her novels is to encourage her readers to imitate her heroes' journey in their own lives. Through her protagonists' successes and failures on their monomythic quests (to use the term of Joseph Campbell), Morrison educates her readers. Campbell states that a successful hero must complete three phases: separation, initiation, and return. In The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove's poor choices cause failure; she stays in the separation phase. Milkman Dead from Song of Solomon reaches the initiation stage but fails to return with his boon. Denver of Beloved is the only successful heroine; she returns to the world with a treasure, providing Morrison's readers with a fully heroic model.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1994
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15053
- Subject Headings
- Morrison, Toni--Criticism and interpretation., African Americans in literature., Morrison, Toni.--Bluest eye., Morrison, Toni.--Song of Solomon., Morrison, Toni.--Beloved.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- From Slaves to Subjects: Forging Freedom in the Canadian Legal System.
- Creator
- Halty, Nina, Engle, Stephen D., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
- Abstract/Description
-
This thesis clarifies recent debates on the problems of territorialized freedom in the Atlantic world by examining several extradition cases involving runaway slaves in Canada, where southern slaveholders attempted to retrieve their lost property by relabeling fugitive slaves as fugitive criminals. In order to combat these efforts and receive the full protections of British subjecthood, self-emancipated people realized that they needed to prove themselves worthy of this status. To achieve...
Show moreThis thesis clarifies recent debates on the problems of territorialized freedom in the Atlantic world by examining several extradition cases involving runaway slaves in Canada, where southern slaveholders attempted to retrieve their lost property by relabeling fugitive slaves as fugitive criminals. In order to combat these efforts and receive the full protections of British subjecthood, self-emancipated people realized that they needed to prove themselves worthy of this status. To achieve this, black refugees formulated their own language of subjecthood predicated upon economic productivity, social respectability, and political loyalty. By actively working to incorporate themselves into the British Empire, Afro-Canadians redefined subjecthood from a status largely seen as a passively received birthright to a deliberate choice. Therefore, this thesis demonstrates that ways in which formerly enslaved people laid out their own terms for imperial inclusion and defined the contours of black social and legal belonging in a partially free Atlantic world.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004923
- Subject Headings
- Canada--Race relations--History--19th century., African Americans--Canada--History--19th century., Freedmen--Canada--History--19th century., Fugitive slaves--Legal status, laws, etc.--Canada., Free African Americans--Canada--History--19th century., Postcolonialism--Southern States., Plantation life in literature., Imperialism in literature., Literature and society--Southern States--History--20th century., Place (Philosophy) in literature.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Reading, Writing, and Language: The Neo-Slave Novel and the Changing Definition of Literacy.
- Creator
- Segal, Pamela H., Dagbovie-Mullins, Sika A., Florida Atlantic University
- Abstract/Description
-
After examining the neo-slave genre it becomes evident that the definition of the genre provided by AshrafRushdy is incomplete, because it does not include an important component of the narrative, literacy. By adding to Rushdy's definition, the narrative's dimensions change and the discussion of the genre is given a new perspective. Many neo-slave narratives' discussions of literacy correspond to the time of publication, not the time period or setting of the novels. Therefore, by interpreting...
Show moreAfter examining the neo-slave genre it becomes evident that the definition of the genre provided by AshrafRushdy is incomplete, because it does not include an important component of the narrative, literacy. By adding to Rushdy's definition, the narrative's dimensions change and the discussion of the genre is given a new perspective. Many neo-slave narratives' discussions of literacy correspond to the time of publication, not the time period or setting of the novels. Therefore, by interpreting the development of literacy alongside the neo-slave narrative, one is able to consider the significance of this connection. By examining three novels within the neo-slave genre, Ishmael Reed's Flight to Canada (1976), Shirley Ann Williams's Dessa Rose (1986) and Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987), I contend that Ashraf Rushdy' s definition of the narrative appears too limited. The cultural perspective and use of literacy within the neo-slave novel allows for further examination of this important component.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000961
- Subject Headings
- Slavery in literature, Influence (Literary, artistic, etc), American prose literature--African American authors--Criticism and interpretation, Reed, Ishmael,--1938---Flight to Canada--Criticism and interpretation, Williams, Shirley Ann--Dessa Rose--Criticism and interpretation, Morrison, Toni--Beloved--Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Fight for education, fight for freedom: from object to subject in freedom narratives.
- Creator
- Messinger, Samantha., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
- Abstract/Description
-
The three novels examined in this thesis do not deal with the subject of slavery directly; however, I argue that, much like slave narratives, they all depict oppressive master/slave relationships and feature protagonists who fight for freedom through literacy and/or education. This thesis outlines three contemporary novels that take place during or after the Civil Rights Movement, what I call "freedom narratives," that not only signify on, but pay tribute to, the slave and neo-slave narrative...
Show moreThe three novels examined in this thesis do not deal with the subject of slavery directly; however, I argue that, much like slave narratives, they all depict oppressive master/slave relationships and feature protagonists who fight for freedom through literacy and/or education. This thesis outlines three contemporary novels that take place during or after the Civil Rights Movement, what I call "freedom narratives," that not only signify on, but pay tribute to, the slave and neo-slave narrative tradition. These novels borrow from the tradition, not only in terms of structure, but also in terms of plot, point of view, theme, and resolution. Additionally, through the novels, one can see how the trauma of slavery in America permeates contemporary American homes, both White and Black. This thesis focuses on PUSH by Sapphire, The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips, and Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison to illustrate the significance and the impact of the traditional slave narrative and the trauma of slavery on contemporary novels and American people.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342241
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Slavery in literature, Symbolism in literature, African American women novelists, Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)