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Spatial Dialectics: Intimations of Freedom in Antebellum Slave Song

Barker, Thomas P.

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Authors

Thomas P. Barker



Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore how music provided the U.S. plantation-slaves with a space in which the hegemony of the White ruling class could be subverted, adapted, and resisted. Consistent with the beliefs of slave religion, which saw the material and the spiritual as part of an intrinsic unity, I identify two tendencies in slave song: freedom as material practice and freedom as the “aesthetic imagination.” I argue that the tensions between these two spheres provided a crucial intimation of a life without slavery.

Citation

Barker, T. P. (2015). Spatial Dialectics: Intimations of Freedom in Antebellum Slave Song. Journal of Black Studies, 46(4), 363-383. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934715574499

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 2, 2015
Publication Date May 1, 2015
Deposit Date Feb 6, 2015
Publicly Available Date May 10, 2016
Journal Journal of Black Studies
Print ISSN 0021-9347
Electronic ISSN 1552-4566
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 46
Issue 4
Pages 363-383
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934715574499
Keywords Music and resistance, Intimations of freedom, Spatial dialectics, Slave song, Spirituals slavery

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Published Journal Article (391 Kb)
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).




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