Keywords
Rival Geography
To describe the conditions that enslaved people in the Plantation South experienced, scholar Stephanie Camp writes that: “By the antebellum period, laws, customs and ideals had come together into a systematic constriction of slave movement that helped establish slaveholders’ sense of mastery. Planters presided over controlled and controlling landscapes dictating the movements of their slaves…In violation of slaveholders’ orders and the state’s laws, though, enslaved people left the quarters; again and again enslaved people ran away and created other kinds of spaces that gave them room and time for their families, for rest from work, and for amusement; on occasion, women moved forbidden objects into their quarters to worrisome effect. In short, enslaved people created a ‘rival geography’-alternative ways of knowing and using southern space that conflicted with planters’ ideals and demands.”
As a keyword and in the context of eighteenth century Louisiana, rival geography refers to enslaved and free Black people’s ability to know, use, and create spaces outside of their intended or colonial uses. In Mama Comba’s Gombeau, for example, the document illustrates how Mama Comba, Louison, Foÿ, Cézar, Fatima, and others, created a space for joy and enjoyment including from the garden space not intended for their use.
In another example, a couple by the name of Dessy and Therese decided to leave their enslavers’ plantation. Many others like them decided that it was more secure for them to be among each other rather than to be separated. It was common for enslavers to remove the Black men from their families and separate Black women from their children, sometimes immediately at birth and indefinitely. These and other inhuman practices inspired enslaved people to cultivate rival geographies, by both absconding and enjoying kin relationship outside of the enslaver’s purview, understanding the lengths they must take to cherish what is most important to them, their family and their identity.
Many African women, men, and children were forced to a life of inhumane labor that served White power and constraint. When taking this context into reality, the mental aspect of discipline and immense bravery to seek out one’s own right to live a free life becomes even more significant. It is clear that for the enslaved, a life of freedom was desired- one that was within the home that the enslaved as human beings may have resonated with and not the one forcefully imposed on them. Moreso, the bonds that were created amongst the enslaved allowed for each person to be influenced by one another, encouraging the feeling of seeking something more than what their enslavers and capturers were teaching them. Representations of enslaved people’s being defined by work within the plantation georgraphy conflict with the historical records displaying that African and Black people were known to have a culture rich in protecting and providing for their families, respecting their elders and those above in faith, and extending hospitality with peaceful actions/intentions beyond what whites intended, and they created spaces where they could practice this.
