BlackGirl Geography

A (Re)Mapping Guide towards Harriet Tubman and Beyond

in Girlhood Studies
Author:
Loren S. Cahill City of New York's Graduate Center lorenscahill@gmail.com

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7212-7970
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2019.120306
Keywords:
autoethnography; Blackgirlhood; cartography; freedomland(s); place-making; womanism
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Abstract

Blackgirls have a long subaltern legacy of being geographers. We have complicated the settler-colonial project of cartography uniquely through our radical placemaking efforts towards achieving safety, inclusion, and liberation. In this autoethnographic article, I trace my own socio-spatial-sensory reflections that I experienced during my visit to Harriet Tubman's Homeplace, Senior Home, and Grave Site in Auburn, New York. I attempt to unsettle the undertheorized renderings of Tubman by interrogating her personal freedom dreams, liberation geography, and womanist cartography. I then map the intergenerational solidarity that Blackgirls have forged with Tubman more contemporarily through their own space making. I conclude by unpacking what ontological lessons both knowledge producers and organizers can glean from Tubman's geographic sacredness and savvy.

Contributor Notes

Loren S. Cahill (ORCID: 0000-0002-7212-7970) is a doctoral candidate at the City of New York's Graduate Center. She has spent over ten years teaching, organizing, and consulting Black and Brown youth. Her current research interests include Blackgirlhood studies, Black Feminist Geography, and Womanist Placemaking. She is also currently serving as an IRADAC/Schomburg Fellow. E-mail: lorenscahill@gmail.com

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Girlhood Studies

An Interdisciplinary Journal

Cover Girlhood Studies
Article Category:
Research Articles
Page Count:
16
Keywords:
autoethnography; Blackgirlhood; cartography; freedomland(s); place-making; womanism
Print Publication Date:
01 Dec 2019
Online Publication Date:
01 Dec 2019
Copyright:
© Berghahn Books 2019

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