Oral history and emplacement in ‘nowhere at all:’ the role of personal and family narratives in rural black community-building

Abstract

This paper begins by reviewing the nowhere at all of transatlantic slavery, or the indiscrete, unmappable whereabouts of an 'African-American' collectivity formed during Middle Passage. The construct is adapted from Hortense Spillers’ 1987 essay, ‘Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book.’ After postulating transatlantic nowhere at all as an archetypal instance, consideration is given to how oral history may chronicle the formation of critical, ongoing black collectivity historically obscured by nowhere at all-ness. The empirical component of this paper focuses on a rural, black Orange County, North Carolina neighborhood established around what was once an unmapped wagon road. Literature from the black geographies subfield, which urges humanistic and historical inquiry, directs the analysis of two oral history interviews with long-term residents. Social and cultural geographies’ longstanding appraisal of personal, historical narratives provides further motivation. Analysis of the interview transcripts suggests family and personal narratives inscribe meaningful community emplacement in otherwise undifferentiated space, or around the unmapped span of a road in the case considered. Concluding remarks urge further investigation of similar emplacements centered on subjective, lived experiences, and approached through humanistic inquiry.

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