The "New" Black in the New South: Negotiating Race and Space in North Carolina's Immigrant Communities

Authors

Masonya Joy Bennett, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Global and Sociocultural Studies

First Advisor's Name

Andrea J. Queeley

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Guillermo Grenier

Second Advisor's Committee Title

committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Benjamin Smith

Third Advisor's Committee Title

committee member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Percy Hintzen

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

committee member

Fifth Advisor's Name

Alexandra Cornelius

Fifth Advisor's Committee Title

committee member

Keywords

African Diaspora, Subjectivity, Identity, Immigration, U.S. South, Material Culture, Race, Space, Place

Date of Defense

11-26-2018

Abstract

This dissertation explores identity and subject formation among black immigrant populations in Charlotte, N.C, a non-traditional gateway city. It interrogates claims made by regional scholars and policy-makers that, due to recent demographic shifts and economic development, Charlotte embodies the “New South”, a designation signifying the transition from an agricultural to a corporation-based economy and from a racially polarized to a multicultural society. Based upon 18 months of ethnographic research utilizing a mixed method approach among immigrants of African descent in the trans-ethnic enclave of East Charlotte, the dissertation focuses on the role of space, place, material culture and affect in black subject formation, demonstrating that East Charlotte is a trans-ethnic alternative community fostered by affective kinship. It argues that black subjects are compelled to create alternative spaces of belonging and inclusion and that these alternative spaces are representative of what I propose is an “Alternative New South,” one that more truly embodies the character of the New South articulated in mainstream narratives. The people, spaces, places and things that compose this Alternative New South reflect the alterity, contention, and solidarity that black immigrant subjects in Charlotte encounter, embrace, and embody. By asserting the model of a trans-ethnic-alternative community, my work (re)places the agency of constructing the projected narrative of the New South in the hands of black and brown subjects, not policy-makers and corporate entities.

Identifier

FIDC007698

Recommended Citation

Bennett, Masonya Joy, "The "New" Black in the New South: Negotiating Race and Space in North Carolina's Immigrant Communities" (2018). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4066.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4066