Suchergebnisse

Throughout the nineteenth century, major rivers assumed multiple roles for the emergent nation-states of the western world. The Thames in England, Seine in France, and Rhine in Germany all served as fodder for a growing sense of national identity. Offering a unity and uniqueness, the rivers were enlisted by poets, artiss, and writers to celebrate their country's strengths and aesthetic appeal. The Mississippi and Volga Rivers were no exceptions to this riverine evolution. At the same time, however, less vocal populations experienced the rivers differently. To African Americans--enslaved and free--laboring on the Mississippi offered a freedom of movement unknown to the land-bound. While employed on steamships, African Americans escaped the vigilance of an overseer with the possibility to escape bondage. Still the work was demanding and relentless. To the burlaki, the Volga was taskmaster and nurturer. But for both groups, laboring on the rivers resulted in connections that were immediate, intimate, exacting, often tedious and brutal concomitant with marginalized lives, consigned to society's fringe. Still, the lives shaped by working on these rivers, produced rich cultures revealing alternative riverine histories. In these histories, the rivers possessed an agency, enshrining an ambiguity in humans' kinship to the environment; a complexity often missing in the national narratives.

Long touted in literary and historical works, the Mississippi River remains an iconic presence in the American landscape. Whether referred to as 'Old Man River' or the 'Big Muddy,' the Mississippi River represents imageries ranging from pastoral and Acadian to turbulent and unpredictable. But these imageries – revealed through the cultural production of artists, writers and even filmmakers – did not adequately reflect the experiences of everyone living and working along the river. The African-American community and its relationship to the Mississippi River down the ages is occluded by these discourses. In focusing on this alternate history, namely the African-American experience with the Mississippi River, the overarching framework of this paper will consist of three lenses on the river as: refuge, labor, and cultural icon. From the moment of their arrival, the intersection of their lives with the Mississippi River reveals a history where the river offers freedom, oppression, escape, sustenance, renewal, disease and displacement. From this largely unexplored perspective, distinctions of race and class are exposed and reinforced. Although rivers have long been included in the historical record, whether through a geographical, spiritual, aesthetic or recreational perspective, the juncture where human lives intersect with rivers, constructing memory and identity, remains overlooked despite a plethora of cultural artifacts such as song, prose and poetry that distinguish experiences. These cultural artifacts, in turn, differentiate reciprocal relationships with the river based on race and class. For the African-American community, the Mississippi River alternated between liberator and oppressor, informing the social construct of an identity that was at times lamented, celebrated, demeaned and feared. But how did these linkages with the river not only influence a distinct collective memory but also nurture a culture with certain understandings and perspectives about the river? And if so, what have been their ramifications? Through an examination of folklore, song and first-person accounts, these questions will be addressed as multiple narratives persist, offering a history that makes more explicit the distinctive experiences of the African-American communities in their engagement with the Mississippi River.

Intro -- Contents -- List of Images -- Introduction -- Further Reading -- 1: Water, Civilization, and Culture -- Introduction -- Reading 1: Water and Early Cultures -- Reading 2: Rivers and National Identity -- Reading 3: Water, Culture, and Memory -- Reading 4: Cultural Myths of Water -- Further Reading -- 2: Water and Landscapes -- Introduction -- Reading 1 -- Reading 2 -- Reading 3 -- Reading 4 -- Further Reading -- 3: Water and Production -- Introduction -- Reading 1 -- Reading 2 -- Reading 3 -- Reading 4 -- Reading 5 -- Further Reading -- 4: Water and Health -- Introduction -- Reading 1 -- Reading 2 -- Reading 3 -- Reading 4 -- Further Reading -- 5: Water and Equity -- Introduction -- Reading 1 -- Reading 2 -- Reading 3 -- Reading 4 -- Further Reading -- 6: Water and Governance -- Chapter Introduction -- Reading 1 -- Reading 2 -- Reading 3 -- Reading 4 -- Further Reading -- 7: Water and Security -- Reading 1 -- Reading 2 -- Reading 3 -- Reading 4 -- Further Reading -- 8: Water and Globalization -- Introduction -- Reading 1 -- Reading 2 -- Reading 3 -- Reading 4 -- Further Reading -- 9: Water and Sustainability -- Introduction -- Reading 1 -- Reading 2 -- Reading 3 -- Reading 4 -- Further Reading.