Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: June 15, 2021 at 9:15:07 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Early-America]: Barter on Spires, 'The Practice of > Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Derrick R. Spires. The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and > Print Culture in the Early United States. Philadelphia University > of Pennsylvania Press, 2019. 344 pp. $49.95 (cloth), ISBN > 978-0-8122-5080-0. > > Reviewed by Faith Barter (University of Oregon) > Published on H-Early-America (June, 2021) > Commissioned by Patrick Luck > > In the introduction to The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics > and Print Culture in the Early United States, Derrick R. Spires poses > two questions that delineate the stakes and the organizing logic of > the book: "What happens to our thinking about citizenship if, instead > of reading black writers as reacting to or a presence in a largely > white-defined discourse, we base our working definitions of > citizenship on black writers' proactive attempts to describe their > own political work? What happens when we base our working definition > of citizenship on black writers' texts written explicitly to and for > black communities?" (p. 2). In addition to shifting the discourse on > citizenship away from a white-centered juridical model, these > questions enlarge the forms of writing and performance that, for > Spires, constitute the creation and practice of black citizenship and > belonging beyond the state. Spires reads these practices in materials > from political conventions, newspaper and periodical culture, poetry, > and fiction, offering an account of black citizenship that is as > broad as it is deep. In his deft navigation of these wide-ranging > archives, Spires offers a compelling account of black citizenship > practices firmly based in his nimble reading and deep historical > knowledge of literary and social worlds in the first half of the > nineteenth century. Through a methodology he describes as "reading > citizenship reparatively," Spires unsettles limited or white-centered > notions of citizenship to open up expansive ways of studying black > life (p. 12). This work likewise offers a capacious theory of the > ways citizenship is not just regulated but also practiced. > > The Practice of Citizenship enters ongoing conversations within black > studies on forms of black culture that intersect with, but do not > define themselves by, state structures, particularly in > nineteenth-century studies. As Spires puts it, the goal here is to > "uncouple citizenship from the state institutions that are the most > recognized but not the only medium for organizing" citizenship acts > (p. 17). In reading against state institutions but not through them, > Spires brings a creative archival framework to this project, as well > as a set of specific reading practices that locate black citizenship > "as a field for creative play" and as a site of "neighborliness ... > between individuals on terms of moral equality in a way that creates > a collective" (pp. 131, 56). Here the project is in deep dialogue > with Spires's work on the Colored Conventions Project.[1] The > Practice of Citizenship also participates in a recent trend of > scholarship that theorizes citizenship, and particularly black > citizenship, as a form of belonging that was continually being made > and reshaped by everyday people. In this respect, The Practice of > Citizenship extends the scholarly conversations from recent work by > Martha S. Jones (_Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights > in Antebellum America_ [2018]), Koritha Mitchell (_From Slave Cabins > to the White House: Homemade Citizenship in African American Culture_ > [2020]), and Carrie Hyde (_Civic Longing: The Speculative Origins of > U.S. Citizenship _[2018]). > > _The Practice of Citizenship _examines several connected citizenship > practices through texts and print culture that sometimes overlap > across chapters. In chapter 1, Spires reads "neighborly" citizenship > through accounts of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, > offering a telling example of Spires's creative theorization of > citizenship practices. For Spires, this concept of neighborly > citizenship entails "a potentially more democratic ethos of equality > and inclusion, demanding that neighbor-citizens serve the common good > by serving each other, by being neighborly toward the individuals > encountered in everyday life" (p. 56). To explore this concept, he > examines work by black writers Absalom Jones and Richard Allen whose > joint account of the epidemic countered a white writer's > misrepresentation of black relief efforts as theft or unethical > pricing practices. As Spires demonstrates, Jones and Allen reframe > those efforts through recourse to the Good Samaritan parable. In > their reframing of the epidemic's economic conditions through ethics > of care and community--in one example, they describe a black man > unwilling to accept compensation for providing water to a dying man, > after numerous white people have ignored his pleas for help--Spires > argues that Jones and Allen offer a theory of citizenship as "a > permeable civic space, resembling more a dynamic web of associations > based in mutual aid than a single sphere, a neighborhood rather than > a market" (p. 56). Spires reads neighborliness here as a logic of > civic responsibility that does not depend on money or familial > relation; rather it prioritizes "collective action against needs that > threaten individual competence, in recognition that a threat to the > individual is, ultimately, a threat to all" (p. 63). > > Chapter 2 shifts attention away from the more intimate spheres of > everyday citizenship and toward the very public politics of black > state conventions in the 1840s. This chapter theorizes "circulation > as a heuristic for analyzing how the conventions functioned as an > archive and repertoire of black citizenship--a constellation of texts > and gatherings, beginning well in advance of the actual conventions > and continuing well past delegates' departure from the physical > meeting space" (p. 81). This treatment of the conventions as having > both antecedent and afterlife aligns with the ethics of the Colored > Conventions Project, and Spires's work in this chapter offers an > extended example of how those events cannot be contained in the > minutes of the proceedings alone. Spires marks his reading of the > conventions not merely "for their documentary and evidentiary value" > but also "as distinct and important political and cultural phenomena" > (p. 80). The work in this chapter, which productively marshals the > language of circulation to demonstrate both the intricacy and the > extensive reach of the conventions, frames the conventions as > catalyzing "political community [that] materializes not through the > formal franchise but rather through audiences' reading, consuming, > and acting on these new civic texts" (p. 82). Here again, Spires > adeptly navigates a challengingly diffuse archive across newspapers > and convention minutes, demonstrating how convention participants > themselves used the language of circulation to trace communal > connections that underpin their calls for franchise rights. > > This chapter also takes particular care to develop black women's > citizenship practices around the conventions, noting how convention > materials themselves tend to erase or obscure women's contributions. > In addition to reading materials by women writers, Spires also urges > reading practices that include, for instance, marking places where > convention minutes record the erasure of remarks by women. Spires > thus indexes these gaps and fragments not merely as erasures but also > as traces that ought to enlarge our sense of black women's > logistical, intellectual, and material contributions to these events. > Finally, this chapter uses the petition format of convention > materials to theorize political organizing as "sublime appeal" (p. > 110)--a manifesto-like call for redress in which black organizers > exposed the moral and legal flaws in state structures and asserted > their own authority as legal agents and advocates. > > In chapter 3, The Practice of Citizenship turns to economic > citizenship as read through the correspondences of "Ethiop" (William > J. Wilson) and "Communipaw" (James McCune Smith) in Frederick > Douglass's Paper between 1851 and 1854. Here, Spires notes that these > writers staged their "debates" in print as a way to navigate the > increasingly modern urban setting of New York City. The debate > itself coalesced around advocacy for, on the one hand, "black > aristocracy" (Wilson), and on the other, a sort of new black > republicanism that centers the average person (Smith). Spires's > consideration of their debates foregrounds their treatment of New > York as a sort of metonym for thinking about US economic citizenship > more broadly. This is one of the places in The Practice of > Citizenship where Spires productively mines the permeability of > fiction and nonfiction, pressing on the creative dimensions of these > personae's debates and noting at one point how the language of the > "real" even inflects Ethiop's and Communipaw's critiques of each > other (p. 156). This reading of the debates reminds us again of > Spires's practice of locating the elements of play, creation, and > imagination in the intricate terrain of black citizenship practices. > Recognizing the possible comparison to Booker T. Washington and W. E. > B. Du Bois as a relevant but insufficient rubric for reading their > staged debates in _Frederick Douglass's Paper_, Spires focuses on > Smith and Wilson as collaborators and co-creators of a deeply > textured conversation around economic citizenship. > > Chapter 4 introduces the concept of critical citizenship, read > primarily through the _Anglo-African Magazine_, where Wilson reprises > his "Ethiop" persona in a series called "Afric-American Picture > Gallery." In describing a set of imaginary visual art pieces, Ethiop > offers "a challenge to modes of collective memory and institutional > framing and a site for cultivating critical citizenship" (p. 164). > Spires refers here to a citizenship practice characterized by its > "intrusiveness," by how it troubles assumptions that tend to > naturalize white supremacy. Critical citizenship deliberately breaks > norms and boundaries by "insist[ing] on historical complexity and > interpretation ... as a means for interrogating and revising the > assumptions that make current social and political arrangements seem > natural, timeless, and desirable" (p. 163). In this chapter, Spires > first traces a national discourse on citizenship through Frederick > Douglass and Anthony Burns. He then reads Wilson's contributions to > the _Anglo-African Magazine _as an example of how his fictional art > gallery cultivates critical citizenship "as a historical, a cultural, > and an intellectual project" that recast Eurocentric narratives and > histories as villains and slavery as the founding structure of US > national history (p. 181). Here again, Spires underscores fiction as > an engine of citizenship practice and as an example of black creative > labor deeply invested in collaborative praxis. > > The intricate close readings of critical citizenship in the > Anglo-African Magazine serve as a hinge to chapter 5, where Spires > reads practices of "revolutionary citizenship" primarily through > Frances Harper's contributions to that same publication (p. 206). The > choice to read revolutionary citizenship through a woman writer, and > specifically some of Harper's lesser-known work, offers another > example of Spires's innovative framings of categories like "citizen" > and "revolution." Chapter 5 specifically returns to the sublime to > examine the relationship among citizenship, literary representation, > and revolutionary violence. Of these interrelated spheres, Spires > asks us to question, through Harper, "What happens after critique?" > (p. 32). He traces the literary worlds that Harper builds within and > across texts from "Fancy Sketches" to "The Triumph of Freedom--A > Dream" (1859-60) and "The Two Offers" (1859) where women deconstruct > the metaphors and mythologies that enable slavery and antislavery. > Spires repeatedly brings Harper into conversation with his previous > chapters, foregrounding how Harper centers "'thinking' black women > ... and ostensibly genteel spaces like parlors as sites where > revolutionary citizenship might be taught and (em)plotted" (p. 233). > For Spires, Harper not only dismantles antiblack mythologies but also > imagines her own mythologies of black survival and revolution in a > network of global diasporic consciousness. It is significant that > Spires dedicates this entire chapter to Harper, given a tendency > among scholars to think revolution primarily through men. Spires's > reading of Harper indexes her contributions to black revolutionary > thought while also providing a reparative reading of revolution, > itself, reminding scholars that, beyond slave insurrection, "free > black life was another front in the same war" (p. 244). > > Finally, in a brief conclusion to The Practice of Citizenship, Spires > offers a reflection on black theorizing and its relation to form as > an evolving and entangled project, and he notes how contemporary > black organizing practices--for example, Black Lives Matter--take up > "the ongoing work of black citizenship practices" examined in this > book (p. 249). He concludes the book by reflecting on a moment when > Frances Smith Foster invited him to reframe an earlier iteration of > his project. Noting how her critique challenged him to refine his own > scholarly investments and priorities, Spires offers an example of how > a willingness to listen and adapt is itself a scholarly methodology, > and this reflection rehearses the collaborative and citational praxis > that defines the very histories his book examines. > > Having already won a number of prestigious awards, including the MLA > Prize for a First Book, The Practice of Citizenship will no doubt > continue to be taken up by scholars in a range of disciplines and > historical periods. As notable for its breadth of coverage as for its > depth, it offers highly teachable scholarship for historians, > archivists, literary critics, black studies scholars, and scholars of > material culture. In addition to the contributions it makes to each > of these separate fields, The Practice of Citizenship is equally > noteworthy for the connections it establishes between and among these > various scholarly spheres. > > Note > > [1]. Derrick R. Spires, "Performing Politics, Creating Community: > Antebellum Black Conventions as Political Rituals," in _The Colored > Conventions Movement_, ed. P. Gabrielle Foreman, Jim Casey, and Sarah > Lynn Patterson (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, > 2021), 154-66. > > Citation: Faith Barter. Review of Spires, Derrick R., _The Practice > of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United > States_. H-Early-America, H-Net Reviews. June, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56229 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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