"THE LAST PLACE THEY THOUGHT OF": Spatial Reconfigurations in 19th Century African American Literature (thesis)

Abstract

A holistic understanding of the United States' cultural and political identities -- before, after, but especially during the 19th century -- is largely a function of how the nation relates to its spatial landscape. Not only does this relationship include economic development, border formations and regionalism establishment, but also the technologies (legal systems, economic institutions, cultural and historic narratives) that maintain the nation's control of the landscape. This thesis is a project looking at the intersection between US national identity formation, chattel slavery, Black American identity formation and African American authorship where space and geography are the premise of analyzation. Historically, the macro and micro-level management of public and private space in the U.S. as it relates to race and gender reflect centuries-long decimation of the rights that protect movement through and obtainment of public and private space so that decimation of mobility is one of the most severe attacks on an individual or group's autonomy. [From Introduction]