Laying Claim

African American Cultural Memory and Southern Identity

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Public Speaking, Rhetoric, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies
Cover of the book Laying Claim by Patricia G. Davis, University of Alabama Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Patricia G. Davis ISBN: 9780817389994
Publisher: University of Alabama Press Publication: August 15, 2016
Imprint: University Alabama Press Language: English
Author: Patricia G. Davis
ISBN: 9780817389994
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Publication: August 15, 2016
Imprint: University Alabama Press
Language: English

In Laying Claim: African American Cultural Memory and Southern Identity, Patricia Davis identifies the Civil War as the central narrative around which official depictions of southern culture have been defined. Because that narrative largely excluded African American points of view, the resulting southern identity was monolithically white. Davis traces how the increasing participation of black public voices in the realms of Civil War memory—battlefields, museums, online communities—has dispelled the mirage of “southernness” as a stolid cairn of white culture and has begun to create a more fluid sense of southernness that welcomes contributions by all of the region’s peoples.
 
Laying Claim offers insightful and penetrating examinations of African American participation in Civil War reenactments; the role of black history museums in enriching representations of the Civil War era with more varied interpretations; and the internet as a forum within which participants exchange and create historical narratives that offer alternatives to unquestioned and dominant public memories. From this evolving cultural landscape, Davis demonstrates how simplistic caricatures of African American experiences are giving way to more authentic, expansive, and inclusive interpretations of southernness.
 
As a case-study and example of change, Davis cites the evolution of depictions of life at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Where visitors to the site once encountered narratives that repeated the stylized myth of Monticello as a genteel idyll, modern accounts of Jefferson’s day offer a holistic, inclusive, and increasingly honest view of Monticello as the residents on every rung of the social ladder experienced it.
 
Contemporary violence and attacks about or inspired by the causes, outcomes, and symbols of the Civil War, even one hundred and fifty years after its end, add urgency to Davis’s argument that the control and creation of public memories of that war is an issue of concern not only to scholars but all Americans. Her hopeful examination of African American participation in public memory illuminates paths by which this enduring ideological impasse may find resolutions.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In Laying Claim: African American Cultural Memory and Southern Identity, Patricia Davis identifies the Civil War as the central narrative around which official depictions of southern culture have been defined. Because that narrative largely excluded African American points of view, the resulting southern identity was monolithically white. Davis traces how the increasing participation of black public voices in the realms of Civil War memory—battlefields, museums, online communities—has dispelled the mirage of “southernness” as a stolid cairn of white culture and has begun to create a more fluid sense of southernness that welcomes contributions by all of the region’s peoples.
 
Laying Claim offers insightful and penetrating examinations of African American participation in Civil War reenactments; the role of black history museums in enriching representations of the Civil War era with more varied interpretations; and the internet as a forum within which participants exchange and create historical narratives that offer alternatives to unquestioned and dominant public memories. From this evolving cultural landscape, Davis demonstrates how simplistic caricatures of African American experiences are giving way to more authentic, expansive, and inclusive interpretations of southernness.
 
As a case-study and example of change, Davis cites the evolution of depictions of life at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Where visitors to the site once encountered narratives that repeated the stylized myth of Monticello as a genteel idyll, modern accounts of Jefferson’s day offer a holistic, inclusive, and increasingly honest view of Monticello as the residents on every rung of the social ladder experienced it.
 
Contemporary violence and attacks about or inspired by the causes, outcomes, and symbols of the Civil War, even one hundred and fifty years after its end, add urgency to Davis’s argument that the control and creation of public memories of that war is an issue of concern not only to scholars but all Americans. Her hopeful examination of African American participation in public memory illuminates paths by which this enduring ideological impasse may find resolutions.

More books from University of Alabama Press

Cover of the book Writing Religion by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book Ledfeather by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book The House by the Side of the Road by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book Alabama Founders by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book Feeding Cahokia by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book Bioarchaeology of the American Southeast by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book The Emperor Redressed by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book The Will to Win by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book Ecoviews by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book Gertrude Stein and the Reinvention of Rhetoric by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book Money and Modernity by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book China Marine by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book Barbecue by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book A New Vision for Missions by Patricia G. Davis
Cover of the book Women in a Man's World, Crying by Patricia G. Davis
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy