Afterimages of Slavery - by Marlene D Allen & Seretha D Williams (Paperback)

About the Book

"Since the election of President Barack Obama, many pundits have declared that we are living in a "post-racial America," a culture where the legacy of slavery has been erased. The essays in this collection, however, point to a resurgence of the theme of slavery in American cultural artifacts from the late twentieth- and twenty-first centuries"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Since the election of President Barack Obama, many pundits have declared that we are living in a "post-racial America," a culture where the legacy of slavery has been erased. The new essays in this collection, however, point to a resurgence of the theme of slavery in American cultural artifacts from the late twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. Ranging from disciplines as diverse as African American studies, film and television, architectural studies, and science fiction, the essays provide a provocative look into how and why slavery continues to recur as a trope in American popular culture.

By exploring how authors, filmmakers, historians, and others engage and challenge the narrative of American slavery, this volume invites further study of slavery in its contemporary forms of human trafficking and forced labor and challenges the misconception that slavery is an event of the past.

Review Quotes

"Clearly, the essays in this collection grapple with the afterimages of slavery in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in a meaningful way. This collection is unique in its questioning of American slavery's narrative and it should interest a vast array of scholars"--Science Fiction Studies.

About the Author

Marlene D. Allen is an associate professor of English literature at Qatar University and has published essays on speculative fiction and gothic fiction by African American writers. Seretha D. Williams is an associate professor of English at Augusta State University in Georgia, where she has also served as the interim director for women's studies and the coordinator for minority advising.