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Reading Along the Grain and Against Racial Capitalism
Topics: Historical Geography
, Black Geographies
, American South
Keywords: archives, USDA, Alabama, Mississippi Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract Day: Monday Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) Room: Virtual 58
Authors:
Mona Domosh, Dartmouth College
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Abstract
Ann Laura Stoler’s notion of reading archives “along the grain” instead of against the grain, paying close attention to the “archive’s granular rather than seamless texture” has proven particularly effective in helping researchers see smaller acts of resistance that might not be noticed otherwise. In Stoler’s words, “the search for dramatic ‘reversal,’ ‘usurpation,’ and successful ‘appropriation’ can hide ‘events’ that are muted in their consequences, less bellicose in their seizures, less spectacular in how and what they reframe.” In this paper I reflect on my attempts to use such an approach to interpret ‘official,’ state-sanctioned documents written by actors who were working quietly and subtly to usurp governmental mandates. I focus on documents written by Black agents of the USDA’s cooperative extension service in Alabama and Mississippi in the 1920s and 30s, showing how their reports to the government camouflaged their goal of racial equity, and how I succeeded, or didn’t, in seeing through that camouflage.
Reading Along the Grain and Against Racial Capitalism