Discourses of Emancipation and the Boundaries of Freedom

Taking inspiration for its title from the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, this book collects essays that examine issues of personal and national liberty, of social, political, and religious expression, and reflect upon the ongoing battle to end discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Retracing the United States’ past, confronting its present, and pondering on its future, Discourse of Emancipation and the Boundaries of Freedom presents a wide array of disciplinary approaches, from such fields as literature, history, linguistics, cultural studies, gender studies, performance studies, political science, law, and psychology. Grouped in sections according to thematic affinity, the essays collected in this volume are representative of many different points of view about, and methodological approaches to, the concepts of emancipation and freedom. They explore the connection between physicality and the quest for freedom; the defense of identity in the face of racial or ethnic discrimination; the legacy of failed attempts to achieve freedom and justice; the great tradition and the current prominence of nature-related writing as a key to the interpretation of the American experience; the problematic aspects of American freedom as an exportable ideology; the ways in which emancipation and freedom figure in popular culture; the many different facets of collective emancipation, personal emancipation, and empowerment.