Travel as Subversion in 19&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;th&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt; Century Black Women’s Narratives

Joyce Hope Scott

doi:10.4236/als.2017.54009

Abstract

Race and gender proved to be two daunting obstacles for African American and Afro-Caribbean women in the 19th century; thus success outside those domains often depended on women’s ability to keep a strong feminist stance. Prescribed female roles and racial prejudice hindered many in their ambitions and endeavors. This paper argues that some 19th century black women’s narratives, however, point to a body of resistance texts in contention with prescribed roles for such women. The textual personas of such narratives transcend the confines of home and racially-configured communities. In fact, the narratives foreground a female agency where personal worth and identities are reconstructed through traveling and working in the global arenas and economies of the 19th century world.

Highlights

International travel, both voluntary and forced, was instrumental in fostering a new world economic structure as well as central to inspiring a distinctive literary tradition of travel writing
This paper argues that some 19th century black women’s narratives, point to a body of resistance texts in contention with prescribed roles for such women
Neither of them was on a tour for tourism’s sake or had the financial ability to undertake an extended voyage; rather, they were women of modest means who traveled with definite motivations which defied the oppressive institutions created for women of the 19th century which limited their access to professional opportunities, philanthropic and activist efforts, and reflective observation

Summary

Introduction

International travel, both voluntary and forced, was instrumental in fostering a new world economic structure (capitalism) as well as central to inspiring a distinctive literary tradition of travel writing. Captive Africans as both the commerce and the creators of new world commerce developed a unique narrative tradition based on the results of their forced movement between continents. As primary victims of the new capitalist order, they were subject to categorizations and constructs that shaped their discursive presence in the resulting transatlantic discourse. Such categorization was evident in representations of the black woman. Seizing travel and writing as a liberatory mode of expression, they gain agency as speaking subjects rather than as objects in a hegemonic master narrative

Critical Scholarship

A Theoretical Framework

Nancy Garner Prince

Conclusion