NYU Press Chapter Title: Daughters of the Dust, the White Woman Viewer, and the Unborn Child Chapter Author(s): RENÉE R. CURRY Book Title: Teaching What You're Not Book Subtitle: Identity Politics in Higher Education Book Editor(s): Katherine J. Mayberry Published by: NYU Press. (1996) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qfbvx.21 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. NYU Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Teaching What You're Not This content downloaded from 130.58.65.13 on Mon, 06 Nov 2017 16:14:12 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 18 Daughters o f the Dust, the White Woman Viewer, and the Unborn Child RENEE R . CURR Y The firs t feature-lengt h fil m i n theatrical distributio n mad e by a n Af - rican America n woman , Daughters of the Dust (1992) , resounds wit h various discourse s o f journeying. Directo r Juli e Dash set s this fil m i n the remote Se a Islands alon g th e coas t o f Georgia . Th e history o f th e slave trade involving these Se a Islands intersects with Dash's concer n for Africa n America n journeys towar d origins . This intersection pro - vides th e settin g fo r both a personal an d a metaphoric guid e t o ren - dering and readin g Africa n America n women's lives : The genesi s o f th e ide a cam e fro m alway s hearin g m y fathe r bein g called a Gee-chee and the n wanting t o do something o n Gee-chee cul- ture, which i s als o called Gullah.... I also collecte d storie s fro m rela - tives who came from th e area. I included som e o f [m y mother's] recol- lections o f folklor e .. I included lot s o f my father' s stories , an d my grandmother's on my father's side, and my aunts. Things that they used to say, I used as dialogue.1 In thi s way , th e journe y o f makin g th e fil m name s th e persona l a s catalyst for researching and embracing the historical. The discourse s use d t o spea k thi s particula r histor y reflec t wha t feminist literar y criti c Debora h E . McDowell refer s t o a s a recurren t motif o f th e journe y i n blac k women' s literature. 2 Preparatio n fo r journeying floods th e on-screen imager y i n Daughters of the Dust, an d 335 This content downloaded from 130.58.65.13 on Mon, 06 Nov 2017 16:14:12 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 336 RENEE R . CURR Y discussions abou t journeying abound a s the Gullah peoples livin g o n the Se a Island s alon g th e coas t o f Georgi a mak e arrangement s fo r their emigration to the North . When asked in an interview to provide a synopsis o f the film, Das h replied, It's abou t a famil y that' s preparin g t o migrat e Nort h an d th e grea t grandmother i s trying to get them to remain on the island. The story is concerned with conflic t an d struggl e a s the family prepare s to migrate North at the turn o f the century. That's not a great synopsis. It's such a dense script... There are so many subplots that it's hard to say that it is any one thing. To really make it simple, it's about a family o f women who carry their cultural traditions into the future. These women carried scraps o f memorie s fro m th e past , and , then , the y carr y thes e sam e scraps of memory into the future. 3 The fil m open s with fragmented image s o f blue-stained hands, a boat landing, an d a full y dresse d woma n risin g ou t o f th e water . Th e camera the n concentrate s lingering , medium-shot gaze s on thre e dif - ferent women. Yellow Mary and her companion Trul a travel in a boat that stops to pick up Viola. Trula and Viola, cousins, travel back to the Sea Islands i n order t o witness th e passage o f th e family' s migratio n North a s wel l a s t o facilitat e th e stayin g behin d o f th e great-grand - mother, Nana Peazant . Although muc h travelin g an d man y journey s permeate th e narrativ e constructio n o f thi s film , I wish t o discus s a different journe y a s regards Daughters of the Dust: th e journeying ey e of th e white woma n viewe r a s i t survey s th e firs t featur e fil m mad e by a n Africa n America n woman . Thi s journe y entail s discussio n o f theoretical issue s such a s positionality a s well as white women's per - sonal/political issues such as fear, resistance, mastery, and psycholog - ical safety . The precedin g descriptio n o f th e film' s openin g accuratel y high - lights th e women picture d i n Daughters of the Dust, th e camer a tech - niques, the remot e settin g tha t instigate s th e journey, th e action , an d the movement o f the plot. However, Toni Cade Bambara's descriptio n of the film' s openin g reminds m e t o transcend th e general accuracie s This content downloaded from 130.58.65.13 on Mon, 06 Nov 2017 16:14:12 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Daughters of the Dust ffl of m y "privileged " whit e gaze . Sh e immediatel y situate s mor e com - plex axe s o f journey s define d b y politica l actio n an d a particula r historical moment : We meet the Peazants in a defining moment— a famil y council . Demo- cratic decision-making , a righ t rippe d fro m the m b y slaver y an d re - gained through emancipation, hallmarks the moment. The Peazants and guests gathe r o n th e islan d a t Ib o Landin g fo r a picni c a t a critica l juncture in history—they are one generation away from the Garvey and the Ne w Negr o movements , a decad e shor t o f th e Niagara/NAAC P merger. They are in the midst o f rapid changes; black people are on the move North , West , an d bac k t o Afric a (th e Oklahom a project , fo r in - stance). Setting the story amid oa k groves, salt marshes, and a glorious beach i s not fo r th e purpose o f presenting a nostalgic communit y i n a pastoral setting. They are an imperiled group. 4 Bambara read s th e ofte n untol d an d eve r accumulatin g histor y o f enslavement an d it s consequences i n the mere settin g o f Daughters of the Dust, where I had read mostly visual details o f the scene. Historian Margaret Washington Cree l points out that the predomi - nantly African-bor n slave s brough t t o thes e Se a Island s originate d from th e same parts o f Africa: th e Kongo-Angola region , the Liberia n Hinterland, the Windward Coast , and perhaps Upper Guinea. 5 View - ing this film as a white woman requires grappling with the particulari- ties of slavery and origins offered b y Bambara and Creel. Viewing thi s film a s a whit e woma n require s grapplin g wit h assumption s abou t definitions o f Unite d State s involvement i n th e enslavemen t o f blac k peoples, about where slavery occurred in the United States, and abou t generalizations regardin g slavery . Viewin g thi s fil m studiousl y re - quires replacin g assumption s an d generalization s wit h a n immersio n into particula r historica l an d representationa l detail s onl y recentl y uncovered an d mad e availabl e b y historians , anthropologists , lin - guists, literar y critics , an d fil m scholar s workin g o n th e histor y o f enslavement and it s consequences in the United States .