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- Publisher
- University of Nebraska Press
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2006 The University of Nebraska Press.
- ISSN
- 1534-0643
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
stephanie li University of Rochester Claudia Tate has observed that for female slaves "motherhood was an institution to which they had only biological claim" (108). Enslaved women and their children could be separated at any time, and even if they belonged to the same owner, strict labor policies and plantation regulations severely limited the development of their relationships. Hortense J. Spillers concludes that because of this fundamental maternal outrage, and the concomitant banishment of the black father, "only the female stands in the flesh, both mother and motherdispossessed. This problematizing of gender places her, in my view, out of the traditional symbolics of female gender" (80). George Cunningham further argues,"Within the domain of slavery, gender or culturally derived notions of man- and womanhood do not exist" (117). The predetermined violence of slavery disrupts conventional meanings attached to words such as "mother" and "womanhood." What is motherhood for a woman deprived of the ability to care for and protect her child? How are we to conceptualize maternal identity under conditions of enslavement? Furthermore, because procreation by bondwomen can be regarded as both a means of perpetuating slavery and an act legacy, vol. 23, no. 1, 2006, copyright © 2006
Journal
Legacy – University of Nebraska Press
Published: Jun 28, 2006