Something Akin to Freedom: The Choice of Bondage in Narratives by African American Women

Title: Something Akin to Freedom: The Choice of Bondage in Narratives by African American Women
Author: Stephanie Li
E: 1702337
ISBN: 9781438429700
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2011
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Number of Pages: 172
Section: Literary Criticism | American | African American & Black
Condition Note: Excellent, unmarked copy with little wear and tight binding. We ship in recyclable American-made mailers. 100% money-back guarantee on all orders.
Publisher Description:

Examines why African American women would choose conditions of bondage over individual freedom.

2010 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title

Why would someone choose bondage over individual freedom? What type of freedom can be found in choosing conditions of enslavement? In Something Akin to Freedom, winner of the 2008 SUNY Press Dissertation/First Book Prize in African American Studies, Stephanie Li explores literary texts where African American women decide to remain in or enter into conditions of bondage, sacrificing individual autonomy to achieve other goals. In fresh readings of stories by Harriet Jacobs, Hannah Crafts, Gayl Jones, Louisa Picquet, and Toni Morrison, Li argues that amid shifting positions of power and through acts of creative agency, the women in these narratives make seemingly anti-intuitive choices that are simultaneously limiting and liberating. She explores how the appeal of the freedom of the North is constrained by the potential for isolation and destabilization for women rooted in strong social networks in the South. By introducing reproduction, mother-child relationships, and community into discourses concerning resistance, Li expands our understanding of individual liberation to include the courage to express personal desire and the freedom to love.