Black Women and Energies of Resistance in Nineteenth Century Haitian - and American Literatur

Black Women and Energies of Resistance in Nineteenth-Century Haitian and American Literature intervenes in traditional narratives of 19th-century American modernity by situating Black women at the center of an increasingly connected world. While traditional accounts of modernity have emphasized advancements in communication technologies, animal and fossil fuel extraction, and the rise of urban centers, Mary Grace Albanese proposes that women of African descent combated these often violent regimes through diasporic spiritual beliefs and practices, including spiritual possession, rootwork, midwifery, mesmerism, prophecy, and wandering. It shows how these energetic acts of resistance were carried out on scales large and small: from the constrained corners of the garden plot to the expansive circuits of global migration. By examining the concept of energy from narratives of technological progress, capital accrual and global expansion, this book uncovers new stories that center Black women at the heart of a pulsating, revolutionary world.

List of contents

Introduction: modulating modernity; 1. Powering the soul: queer energies in Haitian vodou; 2. Marie Laveau's generational arts: healing and midwifery in New Orleans; 3. Freedom's conduit: spiritual justice in 'Theresa, A Haytian Tale'; 4. 'A Wandering Maniac': Sojourner Truth's demonic marronage; 5. Mesmeric revolution: Hopkins's matrilineal Haiti; Coda: effluent futures.

About the author

Mary Grace Albanese is Assistant Professor of English at SUNY Binghamton. She was a 2019-2020 Fellow at the Cornell Society for the Humanities and received her PhD from Columbia University in 2017.

Product details

• Authors: Mary Grace Albanese, Mary Grace (Suny Binghamton) Albanese
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.10.2025
• EAN: 9781009314213
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0931421-3
• No. of pages: 206
• Series: Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Haiti, LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, United States of America, USA, Literary studies: general, Gender studies: women and girls, Relating to people of the African diasporas / heritage