Access Type
Open Access Dissertation
Date of Award
January 2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
English
First Advisor
Lisa Ze Winters
Abstract
Genre has the capacity to help readers my closely understand certain writings; however, strict reliance on genre alone can cloud or betray the author's intentions. This is especially true when the author is imprisoned. From autobiographic writings by Huey Newton and Rubin Carter, to the collected letters and essays of Angela Davis, George Jackson, and Eldridge Cleaver, to certain works of poetry by Ericka Huggins and Etheridge Knight, a certain expression of humanity is alive in their words. I use a method of analysis for these works called Black carceral consciousness to perform close readings of these works in an effort to understand their words with due acknowledgement to both literary and carceral scholarship. While literary scholarship (methods of literary analysis related to genre) can peel back layers of nuance,I argue that these works are most clear when these efforts are combined with carceral scholarship, which calls for critiques of these works to center the author's position as imprisoned. Black carceral consciousness triangulates three components (carceral abolition, black fugitivity, and black carceral subjectivity) to remove any nuance from the reading experience and allow the reception of the authors' words as intended when written.
Recommended Citation
Ford, Allan L., "Literature Unbound: Black Carceral Consciousness From 1965 – 1975" (2024). Wayne State University Dissertations. 4018.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/4018
