Classical Naming and Free Black Histories: Fugitive World Making
Scholars from Margaret Williamson to Saidiya Hartman have analyzed and theorized the cultural politics of classical slave naming in the Americas and the Caribbean. This lecture will consider examples of the persistence of classical naming in Black communities post-emancipation, looking at some striking instances where classical names have played a role in making up new, fugitive histories. Because classical names are vectors of multi-layered signification in American history, encompassing mastery, slavery, genealogy, and myth-making, they have been used to assimilate to many different histories, dominant and fugitive, and help to dramatize our national inconsistencies.
