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Pan African Narratives: Sites of Resistance in the Black Diaspora

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Pan African Narratives: Sites of Resistance in the Black Diaspora Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2004 Pan African narratives: sites of resistance in the Black diaspora Anita Louise Harris Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Harris, Anita Louise, "Pan African narratives: sites of resistance in the Black diaspora" (2004). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 141. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/141 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. PAN AFRICAN NARRATIVES: SITES OF RESISTANCE IN THE BLACK DIASPORA A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Anita Louise Harris B.A., University of New Orleans, 1982 M.A.T., Xavier University of Louisiana, 1994 December 2004 Acknowledgments The scholarly discourse presented here is dedicated to Africans and their descendants who have inspired a legacy of solidarity, resistance and liberation globally. It is also a tribute to those who have sustained me during this journey. I must first pay homage to the elders who have nurtured me spiritually and intellectually. Through their own endurance, my parents, William and Eloise Harris, cultivated in me the fortitude needed to complete this task. It is on their shoulders that I stand. Ms. LeeEster Edwards, Mrs. Juanita Walls, Ms. Vera Rogers, Ms. Eula Monroe, and Judge Joan Bernard Armstrong assured me that all would be well. Jennifer Dave confirmed the significance of my quest through philosophical debates and introduced me to texts that would advance my cause. Baba Akosah patiently and methodically guided my exploration of Black resistance in the Diaspora through praxis and theory. I was honored to have your love and support. This work is dedicated to my sister and dearest friend Audrey Jefferson. She carries the torch of my parents. Her quiet strength deterred my moments of doubt and provided anchoring in the midst of the storm. It is also dedicated to my circle of family and friends who willingly contributed to the completion of this project: Gayle Agahi, Martha Harrison, Barbara Johnson, Cynthia Bryant, Carol Murphy, Joe Murphy, Christina Jefferson, Ira Thomas, Terri Jordan, and Shirlaine George. Thank you for keeping me lifted, standing in the gap, and luring me to completion with your anticipation of my forward march. An endeavor of this magnitude would not have come to fruition without the wisdom and guidance of my academic mentors. Dr. John Lowe directed the course of my dissertation and through keen insight steered me to solid ground. I must also acknowledge Dr. Miles Richardson, ii Dr. Joyce Jackson, and Dr. Thomas Bonner for their persistence in urging me to realize my vision. iii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................................ii ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................v CHAPTER 1. AFRICA FOR AFRICANS LIVING WITHIN THE VEIL: THE NOMMO OF PAN AFRICAN NARRATIVES.......................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2. GO BACK AND FETCH IT: “SANKOFA” AS THEORY AND PRAXIS IN THE AFRICAN DIASPORA.......................................................................................................55 CHAPTER 3. SANKOFA: THE ULTIMATE PAN AFRICAN NARRATIVE..................82 CHAPTER 4. CULTURAL CONTINUITY AS LIBERATING FORCE IN BANJO: A STORY WITHOUT A PLOT AND BOY SANDWICH........................................................................99 CHAPTER 5. THE SNAKE SHALL HAVE WHATEVER IS IN THE BELLY OF THE FROG BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY: A READING OF BLAKE AND PANTHER..................123 CHAPTER 6. HEALING THE RUPTURE AND EXTENDING THE SPLENDOR......... 147 WORKS CITED...................................................................................................................151 VITA.....................................................................................................................................157 iv Abstract Africa as a point of reference for Africans dispersed from her shores and their descendants in the Diaspora has perpetuated discourse of longing and ambivalence. For centuries these various sentiments have emerged in Black literary expressions. The quest of this study is to advance Black narrative tradition by proposing a theoretical framework informed by these constructs and predicaments to establish a genre of literature referred to here as Pan African narratives. This work looks at Black response to the dilemma of dispersal and dislocation in the Diaspora from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. More specifically, it examines the emergence of a literary genre at the juncture of the African diaspora and Pan African paradigms. Building on the legacy of slave and migration narratives, Pan African narratives reveal manifestations of Black solidarity and resistance to oppressive forces. v Chapter 1 Africa for Africans Living Within the Veil: The Nommo of Pan African Narratives Africa as a point of reference for Africans dispersed from her shores and their descendants in the Diaspora has perpetuated discourse of longing and ambivalence. For centuries these various sentiments have emerged in Black literary expressions. In “The Literature of Slavery and Freedom” (1746-1865), Black writers often justify their birthright as American citizens by challenging Whites to uphold the spiritual and political ideals of America (Gates and McKay 127). Phillis Wheatley intimates Black equality in her poem On Being Brought from Africa to America (1773), but in the process “deprecates” her African heritage: ‘Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand That there’s a God, that there’s a Savior too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Some view our sable race with scornful eye, “Their colour is a diabolic die.” Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain, May be refined, and join th’ angelic train. As emancipated Blacks came to grips with their new found freedom, efforts to shape social, political, and spiritual aspirations were documented in literature of the “Reconstruction to the New Negro Renaissance” (1865-1919) (Gates and McKay). In addition to slave testimonies, African American texts reflected philosophical views relevant to Black existence. During this time, Frederick Douglass died, Booker T. Washington gave his Atlanta Exposition Speech (1895), and the debate emerged “over the merits of Washington’s privileging industrial education and economic advancement against W.E.B. DuBois’s advocacy of political agitation and leadership from the ‘talented tenth’” (466). The rebirth of Black consciousness that evolved 1 during the New Negro Renaissance is depicted in the serge of artistic expression during the Harlem Renaissance (1919-1914) as diasporic Africans respond to their “ social conditions, as an affirmation of their dignity and humanity in the face of poverty and racism”(929). Nonetheless, this affirmation of dignity and humanity brought with it some uncertainty. For instance, during the 1920s when Blacks in the United States were reacquainting themselves with Africa through artistic expression, the New Negro rose from the ashes of social and racial inequality determined to restore his humanity and dignity. Africa as a homeland emerged as a central theme in Black art and literature. When Countee Cullen investigates the meaning of Africa to him in “Heritage (1925),” he reveals the ambivalence often felt by diasporic Africans towards the Continent when he asks: What is Africa to me: Copper sun or scarlet sea, Jungle star on jungle track, Strong bronzed men, or regal black Women from whose loins I sprang When the birds of Eden sang? (lines 1-6) Is it a place of regal subjects and celestial planes? Or, is it plagued with native tribes and untamed land? Is it the motherland “from whose loins” Black civilization sprang? Conversely, Langston Hughes acknowledges Africa as the source of life and vitality for Africans in the Diaspora. The Negro soul runs deep like the great rivers Euphrates, Congo, and Nile as the “low beating of the tom-tom stir’s his blood.1 While Cullen ponders the significance of Africa for Blacks psychologically, and Hughes taps into its life force to sustain the Black soul. Central to this enduring discourse is the dilemma of transnationalism. Two cogent constructs marked by the enigma of dispersal and dislocation are African diaspora and Pan 2 Africanism. Contending forces for these constructs are predicaments of culture, race, ethnicity, class, gender, and power. The quest of this study is to advance Black narrative tradition by proposing a theoretical framework informed by these constructs and predicaments to establish a genre of literature referred to here as Pan African narratives. This work looks at Black response to the dilemma of dispersal and dislocation in the Diaspora from the nineteenth to the
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