NEO-SLAVE NARRATIVES IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

It has been more than two decades since Ashraf Rushdy published his genre-defining analysis of neo-slave narratives, which argues that literary artists of the 1960s and 70s became interested in creating fictionalized versions of antebellum slave narratives in order to articulate new understandings of Black political subjectivity that developed during the civil rights era. In the decades following the book’s publication, we have seen a surge of antiracist literature and activism aimed at addressing deadly police violence, mass incarceration, and ongoing discrimination in employment, education, healthcare, and housing opportunities for African-American people. At the same time, we have also seen a resurgence of interest in the production of neo-slave narratives across a variety of different media, including fiction (Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Water Dancer, Daniel Black's The Coming, Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing), film (Django Unchained, 12 Years a Slave, Harriet), and television (2016’s remake of Roots, The Good Lord Bird, The Underground Railroad). This panel invites presentations that address the ongoing significance of the neo-slave narrative as a vehicle for revising contemporary understandings of Black and white identity at a time when an emergent discourse of antiracism and Black Lives Matter activism is challenging a perceived sense of complacency in racial politics held over from the late twentieth-century. Panelists are asked to investigate what role these texts might play in the nation’s collective efforts to grapple with a shameful racist history and to work toward establishing a more perfect union that lives up to its democratic ideals. General topics for the panel might include (but are certainly not limited to) the following:

-Analyses of one or more 21st-century slave narrative from any disciplinary perspective
-Comparative analyses between 21st century neo-slave narratives and those produced during or shortly after the civil rights era
-Comparative analyses between 21st century neo-slave narratives and antebellum slave narratives
-Adaptations of literary slave narratives for film or television

Interested panelists should submit an abstract of no more than 250 words, a brief bio, and any a/v requests to ktrumpeter@allenuniversity.edu by July 9, 2021