Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America (Race and American Culture) [Paperback]

Saidiya V. Hartman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0195089847 | ISBN-13: 978-0195089844

In this provocative and original exploration of racial subjugation during slavery and its aftermath, Saidiya Hartman illumines the forms of terror and resistance that shaped black identity. Scenes of Subjection examines the forms of domination that usually go undetected; in particular, the encroachments of power that take place through notions of humanity, enjoyment, protection, rights, and consent. By looking at slave narratives, plantation diaries, popular theater, slave performance, freedmen's primers, and legal cases, Hartman investigates a wide variety of "scenes" ranging from the auction block and minstrel show to the staging of the self-possessed and rights-bearing individual of freedom. While attentive to the performance of power--the terrible spectacles of slaveholders' dominion and the innocent amusements designed to abase and pacify the enslaved--and the entanglements of pleasure and terror in these displays of mastery, Hartman also examines the possibilities for resistance, redress and transformation embodied in black performance and everyday practice. This important study contends that despite the legal abolition of slavery, emergent notions of individual will and responsibility revealed the tragic continuities between slavery and freedom. Bold and persuasively argued, Scenes of Subjection will engage readers in a broad range of historical, literary, and cultural studies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Audacious....Original and provocative....What Hartman has to say about both slavery and its continuing resonances should be heard as widely as possible....A major scholarly contribution to the project of expanding and refining the nation's political memory."--The Nation

"A tour de force."--American Literature

"American historians, especially historians of the South, will learn much from Secenes of Subjection"--The Journal of American History

"A profoundly important subject...the author explores anew the calculated use of both blatantly overt and seemingly subtler forms of control over black bodies and black psyches."--Mississippi Quarterly

About the Author

Saidiya Hartman is Associate Professor of English at the University of California-Berkeley

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 4, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195089847
• ISBN-13: 978-0195089844
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #124,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > History > Americas > United States > Civil War > Abolition

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Wanted this for some time December 8, 2012

By Katie

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is intense. I have been wanting to read the whole text for some time and had only previously read excerpts. Thanks for getting the book here quickly.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful February 23, 2007

By Robert W. Kellemen

Format:Paperback

Saidiya Hartman, with "Scenes of Subjection" has penned a well-researched and insightful look at the interior life of enslavement, power, and personal freedom. Using copious first-hand resources, Hartman creatively considers how the every day life and rituals of enslaved African Americans demonstrates that one can enslave a body, but never a soul.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Spiritual Friends, and Soul Physicians.

11 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent April 14, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Scenes of Subjection provides a fascinating view of slavery and its effects. Hartman applies her brilliant intellect to this terribly important subject, providing the reader with insight and understanding that is sadly missing from other academic and non-academic treatment of slavery. This is a "must read."