A usable body: coaxing the body into and out of captivity at the museum. Issue 2 (3rd April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Autry, Robyn
• Is Part Of: Visual studies. Volume 34:Issue 2(2019)
• Page Start: 136
• Page End: 147
• Publication Date: 2019-04-03
• Subjects: Visual perception -- Periodicals; Visual anthropology -- Periodicals; Visual sociology -- Periodicals; 301
• DOI: 10.1080/1472586X.2019.1655474
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1472-586X

Abstract

Abstract : The visual logic of 'black' identity as a social and historical fact is presented at museums depicting the transformation of enslaved Africans to racial citizens. I focus on the work of the body in narrating this transition at a black history museum: the historical object on display – the captive African and later the US citizen – and the imagined visitor moving through the physical space of the museum. I consider the visual treatment of the enslaved body in captivity as broken, bowed, beaten and often nude in contrast to the post-abolition period when the body is positioned as erect, individuated, self-possessed and always clothed. I also discuss how the imagined visitor's body is oriented both to the narratives on display and to the built environment of the museum itself.