Presenters:
Raven Gadsen
Christina Sharpe’s In the Wake: On Blackness and Being examines the ways black being and black bodies have been continually oppressed in the aftermath of American chattel slavery, what she calls being left behind or caught up in the wake. Her analysis can be used to illuminate groups that were specifically produced as a result of the process of enslavement, those like the Gullah Geechee of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Particularly, her work offers a way to explain why the Gullah Geechee’s literary tradition, while present, is virtually invisible, relatively ignored, and excluded by the American literary tradition evidenced by the lack of critical conversation of published texts representative of the language, citizens, and cultural identity of the Gullah-Geechee. While the Gullah-Geechee have thrived despite being a product of the wake, certain aspects of the culture have not had the opportunity to become as completely visible as others. The literary tradition of the Gullah-Geechee is one such aspect.
Length: 30 minutes