Contact: Sheryl HayesSheryl@virginia.edu
www.virginiafoundation.org
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
145 Ednam Drive Charlottesville, VA
22903-4629
PH: 434-924-3296
FAX: 434-296-4714
For Immediate Release
Contact: Sheryl Hayes
Sheryl@virginia.edu
www.virginiafoundation.org
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
145 Ednam Drive
Charlottesville, VA
22903-4629
PH: 434-924-3296
FAX: 434-296-4714
For Immediate Release
James Bryant, VFH Fellow, discusses the impact of slavery on self and kinship to enslaved Africans and their American-born descendents
James Bryant, VFH Fellow, will present “Reimagining the Spiritual Bonds of Communities in Bondage – the Tidewater Chesapeake, 1760-1831.” In his talk, Bryant will raise questions about conceptions of self and kinship held by enslaved Africans and their American-born descendents during the time between the American Revolution and the first three decades of the 19th century. During this period, an increased number of enslaved men and women, particularly those in the Chesapeake, found their nascent families and communities broken by an emerging interstate slave trade system. The presentation, part of the Spring 2006 VFH Fellows Seminar SeriesVisionary Voices in the Midst of Violence, will be held on Tuesday, April 25, 4-5:30 p.m. at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
Bryant will present that the heightened possibility for displacement from home and family placed a distinct burden on enslaved women, who were less likely to be sold away from their plantation homes due to their domestic skills, placement in the division of plantation labor, and reproductive value, but were likely to experience loss of kinships without notice. To withstand the persistent, untenable threat to family bonds in and beyond the quarters, understandings of self, kinship, and spirituality were actively and imaginatively created through rituals imprinted with logics from the Old World. Bryant identifies such imprints of an African past in the recorded voices of the enslaved. Nat Turner, leader of the slave revolt that bears his name, emerges as an interesting case study to consider self, kinship, and the creative rituals of the enslaved: his mother, Nancy, is believed to have been born in Africa and brought to America in her late teens. Bryant will discuss Nat Turner’s Confessions not only as a narrative of resistance, but as a visionary testimony creatively ordered by his experiences of violence and the voices of his ancestors.
James Bryant is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA. Bryant’s most recent book project is Signs of Damascus Road: Consciousness and Rationality in the African-American Ministerial Imagination.
The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH), based in Charlottesville, is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the humanities, and to using the humanities to address issues of broad public concern. The VFH Fellows Program is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and private donations.
In all its programs, the Foundation works to make scholarship accessible; to promote understanding and discussion of enduring and contemporary issues; and to broaden the range of educational opportunities available to all Virginians.
VFH Fellows seminars are free and open to the public and are held at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 145 Ednam Drive, Charlottesville. Presentations begin at 4 p.m. and are followed by refreshments and an informal time for discussion and questions.
For more information on the seminar visit www.virginiafoundation.org/fellowships. For directions to the VFH, visit virginiafoundation.org or contact aspencer@virginia.edu, 434-243-5526. For media inquiries about the seminar topic, fellowships, or other VFH programs, contact Sheryl Hayes at 434-924-3296 or Sheryl@virginia.edu
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