Cultural Trauma: Slavery and the Formation of African American Identity (Cambridge Cultural Social Studies)

In this book, Ron Eyerman explores the formation of the African-American identity through the theory of cultural trauma. The trauma in question is slavery, not as an institution or as personal experience, but as collective memory: a pervasive remembrance that grounded a people's sense of itself. Combining a broad narrative sweep with more detailed studies of important events and individuals, Eyerman reaches from Emancipation through the Harlem Renaissance, the Depression, the New Deal and the Second World War to the Civil Rights movement and beyond. He offers insights into the intellectual and generational conflicts of identity-formation which have a truly universal significance, as well as providing a new and compelling account of the birth of African-American identity. Anyone interested in questions of assimilation, multiculturalism and postcolonialism will find this book indispensable Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 6 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Contents......Page 9 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction......Page 11 Collective memory......Page 15 The place of generation in collective memory......Page 20 The cycle of (generational) memory......Page 22 2 Re-membering and forgetting......Page 33 Popular memory and popular culture......Page 49 A new African American Negro......Page 68 A New Negro......Page 71 Slavery and popular culture......Page 85 4 The Harlem Renaissance and the heritage of slavery......Page 99 The changing conditions of community......Page 104 Harlem, mecca of the New Negro: from trauma to triumph......Page 120 Representation and memory: high culture and low......Page 125 Visualizing the New Negro......Page 133 5 Memory and representation......Page 140 Institutionalizing the progressive narrative......Page 142 Mediating race......Page 150 Black-oriented radio......Page 158 Negotiating the meaning of migration......Page 163 War: the end of Depression......Page 171 Black nationalism and the tragic narrative......Page 175 The original people......Page 178 6 Civil rights and black nationalism: the post-war generation......Page 184 Context......Page 185 Black power......Page 188 Re-framing the tragic narrative......Page 192 Secular nationalism: cultural and political......Page 200 The civil rights movement and the progressive narrative......Page 209 Representing the movement and the memory of slavery......Page 220 Popular culture......Page 225 1 Cultural trauma and collective memory......Page 233 2 Re-membering and forgetting......Page 238 3 Out of Africa: the making of a collective identity......Page 246 4 The Harlem Renaissance and the heritage of slavery......Page 256 5 Memory and representation......Page 268 6 Civil rights and black nationalism: the post-war generation......Page 287 References......Page 296 Index......Page 309 This book explores the formation of the African-American identity through the theory of cultural trauma. The trauma in question is slavery, not as an institution or as personal experience, but as collective memory--a pervasive remembrance that grounded a people's sense of itself. Ron Eyerman offers insights into the intellectual and generational conflicts of identity-formation which have a truly universal significance, and provides a new and compelling account of the birth of African-American identity. In this book the formation of an African American identity will be explored through the theory of cultural trauma (Alexander et al. 2001). Ron Eyerman explores the formation of African American identity through the cultural trauma of slavery