This dissertation examines the notion of nationhood and the intricacies of identity in Mauritius as depicted in the work of artists from this island. Through the writing of Ananda Devi, Shenaz Patel, Natacha Appanah, Amal Sewtohul, and Carl de Souza, as well as through the works of filmmakers Harikrisna Anenden and David Constantin, I analyze the distinctive ways in which these artists explore the burden of a traumatic past along with their ensuing representations of the present images of the Mauritian people. Their works best encapsulate the paradoxical place that Mauritius holds in the Francophone and Anglophone world, i.e. that it was first a French and then a British colony, which respectively introduced slavery and indentured servants to this island that had no autochthone population. As a result, the question of identity – both individual and national – remains intrinsically linked to the memory of slavery and of indentured servitude/Coolitude, in a country which history prior to colonization has little been explored. Thus far, critical work in Francophone literature has studied these two memories separately. My analysis creates a dialogue between them. This is crucial to the understanding of just how the intersection of slavery and Coolitude, have shaped today’s Mauritian national identity. Each chapter raises a key question on the subject: How does the writing of Devi, along with Anenden’s cinema, both of which are centered on marginalized communities, present a critical framework through which the socio-economic issues of the island can be studied? In what ways does Appanah’s fiction convoke historical events, while problematizing deeply engrained power dynamics? What does it mean for Patel and Constantin to give voice to the subaltern and to speak for/instead of a minority group? Finally, how do the works of these different writers, namely Patel, Appanah, Sewtohul and de Souza, address the complexities and tensions within the multicultural society of Mauritius? My conclusion reflects on the critical role and impact of artistic expression in the creation of a mosaic in which we can better understand the Mauritian nation when this country is at the milestone of 50 years of independence. / 2020-11-27T00:00:00Z

Neste estudo, busquei trazer histórias de vida de mulheres pobres livres, forras e escravas que viveram na fronteira entre a escravidão e a liberdade, no recôncavo sul da Bahia, nos anos de 1850-1888. Conhecido como recôncavo mandioqueiro, essa parte da província da Bahia teve, durante todo o século XIX, grande inserção econômica por se tratar de um importante polo de produção de gêneros de primeira necessidade que abastecia os mercados da capital. Sendo assim, atraía todo tipo de gente em busca de meios de sobrevivência, incluindo mulheres pobres livres, escravas ou recém saídas do cativeiro. Muitas delas, conseguiram com trabalho e astúcia sair do cativeiro e construir um patrimônio significativo; outras, com pouca sorte, penaram até a morte angariando meios de sobrevivência. Partindo de um conjunto amplo de fontes documentais de natureza diversa, tais como: testamentos, inventários post mortem, registros eclesiásticos e notariais, processos cíveis e criminais, posturas municipais e jornais, cruzados com dados coletados no Censo de 1872, tracei os caminhos percorridos por essas mulheres na construção de suas autonomias. A análise destes dados possibilitou uma maior aproximação das relações quotidianas vivenciadas por essas mulheres no contexto da escravidão e no imediato pós-abolição que, bem longe de ser pacífico e brando, mostrou-se ser marcado por toda sorte de violência. / In this study, I sought life histories of poor women that lived in the threshold between slavery and freedom. The study takes place in Bahia state in Brazil, in a region called South Reconcavo, during the period of 1850-1888. That part of the country had high economic relevance during the whole XIX century due to the production of necessity goods that were sold at the state capital. Different sorts of people were attracted to that area seeking work oportunities and ways of survival including poor free or enslaved females. Many of these women struggled to reach freedom and overcame poverty reaching some wealth. Others instead struggled just to survive till end of life. A broad set of documents from various sources were analyzed such as wills, post mortem inventories, church records, notary records, civil and criminal justice documents, newspapers and data from the Census of 1872. I was able to track the paths taken by those women to build their autonomy in life. The analysis of this data enabled a better view of the daily hardships faced by women during slavery and after abolition, when different examples of violence were observed.

Cette recherche se penche sur l’expérience historique de la population afro-descendante et indienne originaire des Basses Terres de Charcas, faisant partie de la servitude dans la ville de La Plata, entre 1560 et 1650. À travers les principaux critères des discours normatifs, et d’autres discours sociaux, l’on peut ici discerner de quelle manière se construit l’image publique des personnes esclavisées. Dans la logique des relations de pouvoir, apparaît, avec des caractères distinctifs, le traitement particulier que cette société multi-ethnique réserve aux nombreux membres de la servitude. Bien qu’il rend compte de la violence des pratiques esclavagistes, ce travail cherche à démontrer que l’expérience du sujet captif n’est pas limitée à la sphère de la soumission mais possède une dimension sociale plus large. Même fortement conditionnée, son image n’est pas déterminée par des préjugés phénotypiques, et ne dépend pas de liens avec une quelconque ancestralité, mais, au contraire, s’inscrit dans un jeu de complexes interactions sociales face l’ordre colonial. / This research examines the historical experience of the Afro-descendant and indigenous population from the Lowlands of Charcas who were in servitude in the city of La Plata between 1560 and 1650. Through the main criteria of normative discourse, and of other social discourses, we can discern how the public image of the enslaved people was constructed. Whitin the logic of power relations, appears, with distinctive characteristics, the particular treatment that this multiethnic society gave to its noumerous members in situation of servitude. Although it takes into account the violence of slavery practices, this work seeks to demonstrate that the experience of the captive subject was not limited to the sphere of submission, but that it had a wider social dimension. Even strongly if conditioned by phenotypic prejudices, its image was not determined and did not depend on its ties to any ancestry, but, on the contrary, was part of a complex context of social interactions within the colonial order.

This dissertation is a social and cultural history about the ways that African Americans contributed to national debates about race, slavery, and emancipation by constructing and performing their own representations of slavery for the public. Scholars often portray these larger debates as a contest of ideas among whites, but African Americans played an important and still understudied role in shaping the white public’s understandings of race and slavery throughout the nineteenth century, especially in the North. Moving from from the 1830s to the early 1900s, my dissertation identifies several critical moments when African Americans, especially former slaves, gained new access to the public stage and seized opportunities to represent their own identities, histories, and experiences in different forums. Chapter One focuses on the unique contribution that fugitive slave activists made to the abolition movement. I place the published slave narratives in a larger performative context that includes public appearances and speeches; singing and dramatic readings; and oral testimony given in more private settings. In contrast to the sympathetic but frequently disempowering rhetoric of white abolitionists, fugitive activists used their performances to construct a positive representation of black manhood and womanhood that showed slaves not as benevolent objects in need of rescue but as strong men and women ready to enter freedom on equal terms. Chapter Two focuses on the Civil War, when runaway slaves had new opportunities to communicate their understandings of slavery and freedom to the Northerners who sent south during the war, as soldiers, missionaries, and aid workers. “Contraband” slaves’ testimony revealed the prevalence of violence and family separation, as well as slaves’ willingness to endure great hardship in pursuit of freedom. Contraband men and women also worked to publicly assert their new identities as freedpeople when they preemptively claimed the rights of citizenship and power over their own bodies. Their testimony and actions challenged white Northerners to embrace emancipation as an explicit Union war aim. Chapter Three of my dissertation examines black performance on the formal stage, 1865-1890s, by focusing on three groups of black performers: African American minstrels, the Hyers Sisters Dramatic Company, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Capitalizing on Northerners’ increased interest in slavery and “authentic” black performers, these groups offered their own representations of slavery and emancipation to the public, sometimes disrupting whites’ romanticized image of the “old plantation” in the process. During an era when the country moved toward reconciliation and reunion, these performances kept the issue of slavery before the public and, in some cases, contributed to an emancipationist memory of the war which challenged contemporary Northerners to protect the rights of freedpeople. My final chapter focuses on the autobiographies written and published by formerly enslaved women post-1865. My analysis of the women’s narratives as a body of work challenges the prevailing notion that post-bellum slave narratives were focused on regional reconciliation and the writer’s successful life in freedom. Women writers continued to remember and represent slavery as a brutal institution and revealed the ways that it continued to shape their lives in freedom, challenging contemporary images of the “old plantation” and devoted, self-sacrificing “Mammy.” Through their writing, these women represented African American women as central actors in stories of resistance, survival, and self-emancipation. With sustained attention to the deeply gendered nature of these representations, my dissertation sheds new light on the unique ways that African American women participated in these larger social debates and contributed to the public’s understanding of race and slavery before, during, and after the Civil War. Moving beyond the traditional periodization of U.S. slavery and emancipation and the typical focus on actors within a single, organized social movement, my project uncovers the breadth and diversity of African Americans’ public representations of slavery and freedom in contexts that were simultaneously social, cultural, and political. Using a broad range of published and unpublished archival materials, my work reveals African Americans’ distinct contribution to national debates regarding slavery’s place in the nation and the future of the men and women held within it.

This project examines the intimate role slave claims played in the animosities which quickly developed from the acquisition of the Florida territory to the outbreak of the Second Seminole Indian War. By focusing on the Indian Agency and its first administrator, Gad Humphreys, this connection is made by suggesting that the territory's legislators were unwilling to allow the coexistence of Seminoles and blacks on the Florida frontier. The presence of these communities threatened developing Middle Florida plantations with significantly increased risks of both slave runaways and insurrection. In response, settlers and government officials pressed Humphreys to see not only that the Seminoles were pacified, but also that runaway slaves were apprehended and returned to their owners. The agent, however, held fundamentally different opinions on the subject of adjudicating these controversies than did the citizens under his direction, and his superiors in the War Department. When Humphreys regularly supported Seminole claimants in the often-bitter property contests, his actions were met with the disapproval of his superiors-particularly Governor William Pope DuVal-who felt that his first duty was to ensure the development of the territory's plantations. The claims of Margaret Cook and Mary Hannay, in particular, strained these once respectful relationships to the point where DuVal sought to have Humphreys removed on various charges of misconduct relating to his direction in the controversies. An investigation was initiated into a number of allegations, yet focused on his conduct in slave controversies, and found that far from acting inappropriately, Humphreys had performed his duty with exceptional integrity. Ultimately, however, DuVal's effort was successful. Humphreys was superceded in 1830 by John Phagan-an agent much more willing to take the harsh measures necessary to have the numerous slaves claimed by the territory's citizens surrenders. In examining the actions of Humphreys, the Indians under his charge, and the legislators he reported to, slave claim controversies of the 1822-1830 period clearly illustrate the centrality of the slavery issue on the Florida frontier, and inextricably connect slavery to the outbreak of the Second Seminole Indian War.

This research supports the design of a museum dedicated to reconciliation on the issue of human slavery. Throughout the museum guests will be ushered through contemplation to prepare for the context of the museum, gallery exhibitions chronicling the slavery and corporate apologia. The aim of the museum is to aid guests toward taking ownership of the history of slavery while simultaneously offering up forgiveness for it. Platforms for spoken word art, lecture halls and spaces dedicated to dialogue will be included. The chronological progression through the museum will move guests from introspection to education, personal acceptance to forgiveness. Guests will end the museum at a community space, reconciled to each other and on equal ground.

acase@tulane.edu

Avec l’avènement du règne personnel du Roi soleil et sa volonté de contrôle sur l’ensemble de son royaume en 1661, de nombreux changements sont apparus dans la relation entre la Martinique et la métropole, avec un renforcement des dépendances et inégalités. La première des volontés du roi porta sur l’affirmation de sa majesté. Il enleva le statut seigneurial particulier de la Martinique afin d’intégrer l’île dans le Royaume. L’autre aspect de sa politique, avec l’ambitieux Colbert fut de réformer la dépendance économique, des productions agricoles afin de répondre aux besoins et ambitions “mercantiles” de la France en prônant à nouveau l’exclusif.Les transferts de populations connurent un accroissement considérable. Le plus connu est celui issu des Traites, il est important de distinguer d’autres plus particuliers comme les engagés blancs ou encore les pensionnaires des hôpitaux et les exils. La société coloniale était divisée alors en trois grandes catégories : les blancs, les libres et les serviles, mais les strates étaient bien plus complexes.Le ministère de l’Église fut chargé de maintenir les populations dans l’obéissance à la royauté en leur rappelant leur statut de sujets. Il fut chargé de convertir les esclaves, amérindiens, réformés mais aussi les Juifs présents dans la colonie, afin de les consacrer à une forme de maxime : un roi, une religion.Mais les volontés d’assujettissement des populations créèrent de nombreuses réactions qui furent l’interlope, les révoltes blanches et serviles, le marronnage ou encore la persistance des « réfractaires » religieux. / With the advent of the personal reign of the Sun King and his desire to control his entire kingdom in 1661, many changes have occurred in the relationship between Martinique and metropolitan France, with stronger dependency and inequality. The first of the will of the king fell on the affirmation of his majesty. He removed the particular lordly status of Martinique to integrate the island into the Kingdom. The other aspect of his policy, with the ambitious Colbert was to reform the economic dependence of agricultural production to meet the needs and aspirations "mercantile" in France advocating again exclusive.Population transfers experienced a significant increase . The best known is based on the Treaties, it is important to distinguish it from other more specific as white or residents of hospitals and exiles incurred. Colonial society was divided then into three broad categories: white , free and servile , but the layers are much more complex. The ministry of the Church was responsible for maintaining populations in obedience to royalty reminding them of their status as subjects. The Church was responsible for converting the slaves, Native Americans , but also reformed Jews in the colony , in order to focus on a form of maxim : one king, one religion.But the will of subjugation of populations created many reactions that were the underworld , white and servile revolts, runaways or the persistence of "refractory" religious.

This dissertation is a social and legal history of St. Louis and Missouri in the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. The study examines African American women's individual and collective struggles for freedom and civil status in the Age of Emancipation. By mining the records of the local military police in Missouri, this project finds that freedwomen, and even enslaved women, used military courts to seize rights during the Civil War. African American women entered this legal system as petitioners and claimed specific rights, including the right to paid labor, the right to state protection from bodily assault, and the right to custody of their children. The project identifies a number of key points when emancipation took a gendered path. Union officers were more likely to allow fugitive men into their camps, as they viewed women as unfit for military work. Mothers with children were particularly unwanted in military camps and forts throughout the state. After slave enlistment began in Missouri, men were freed in return for their military service but their female relatives had to find a separate path out of slavery. As part of the process of emancipation, freedwomen developed and asserted their own beliefs regarding marital rights and obligations. These marital claims were made in dialogue with the Union army, the Military Pension Bureau, divorce law, and the African American church and community. In the crisis of the Civil War, freedwomen developed a gendered conception of citizenship that was firmly rooted in their wartime struggle to destroy slavery. By considering the claims women made before military and civil officials, we can see in detail how African American women fought for national inclusion and, furthermore, that freedwomen's claims derived from a political philosophy that fueled their visions of freedom. The struggles of this population clarify the central role of the legacy of slavery, and the process of slave emancipation, in the construction of American citizenship rights.

This thesis consists of the two opening chapters of American Odyssey, a nouveau plantation novel that has its roots in two American fiction traditions---the nineteenth-century plantation novel and the twentieth-century neo-slave narrative. It is 1855 and Charles DeCoeur's only motivation to remain Riverwood's owner and master is that his widowed mother and sickly sister rely on the profits of the estate. Charles chafes under the responsibility and physicality of plantation life, unable to reconcile himself to the role of master of a cotton estate in the forgotten heart of East Florida. Then a female Negro, Hellcat, wanders onto the Riverwood estate. Attracted to the woman's unusual appearance and disposition, Charles readily claims her as his property. It is not long before Charles channels his ennui into a renewed interest in Riverwood's workings, a thinly-veiled attempt to hide his growing obsession with the mysterious slave woman. However, tensions are mounting all around Charles. The estate is approaching bankruptcy, the overseer and slaves believe Hellcat has dark intentions, and Charles' mother believes the slave is a bastard child from her husband's scandalous past. But Charles refuses to listen to those around him and continues to let his desires guide his actions, while Hellcat's presence at Riverwood opens new wounds that threaten everyone around her.