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‘When the sea of living memory has receded’: Cultural Memory and Literary Narratives of the Middle Passage

Terry, J

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Abstract

This article considers the emergence of the slave Middle Passage between Africa and the Americas as a pervasive topic and figure in modern black diasporic literature. It explores representation of the Atlantic crossing alongside broader questions about the formation and mutation of group identity based on understandings and constructions of a shared past. Three textual examples, taken from the work of David Dabydeen, John Edgar Wideman, and Toni Morrison, are used to illustrate the agency, variety, and suggestiveness of this oceanic imaginary and to highlight some specific functions of literary media. Theories of collective and cultural memory help address concerns with memorialization; the recovery of “forgotten” histories; the role of cultural production; and counter, contextual, and shifting narratives of the past.

Citation

Terry, J. (2013). ‘When the sea of living memory has receded’: Cultural Memory and Literary Narratives of the Middle Passage. Memory Studies, 6(4), 474-488. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698012467999

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2013-10
Deposit Date Feb 15, 2012
Publicly Available Date Jan 13, 2014
Journal Memory Studies
Print ISSN 1750-6980
Electronic ISSN 1750-6999
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 6
Issue 4
Pages 474-488
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698012467999
Keywords Black diaspora, Counter-memory, Group identity, Literature, Memorialization, Slavery.

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