Voices from the Coolest Corner of Hell: A Content Analysis of Slave Narratives in the Study of Creolization in the Education of 19th Century African American Slaves

The general argument made by Southern historian, Ulrich Bonnell Phillips in 1918, is that the plantation functioned as a type of school for the slave. Similarly, in 1976, Anthony Gerald Albanese examined the plantation system as an institution that conditioned the behaviors of both slaves and slave owners. I maintain that the plantation system was not only an educative agency that conditioned behaviors, but also a conduit for the creolization process. The focus of this study is creolization in the education of African American slaves in the nineteenth century. This is a mixed methods content analysis of African American slave narratives. I use Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s plantation context heuristic to help conceptualize the creolization process that I believe is present within the text. Within the qualitative strand of the sequential mixed method design, I identify thematic codes that signify pedagogy and creolization theory. I classify these codes into three families: slave-making strategies (SMS) codes, creolization theory (CT) codes, and education and literacy (EL) codes. The coding units I collect during the qualitative phase of this study will make up the dataset for the quantitative phase of research in which I explore the relationships among coding families.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Grantor

Educational Theory, Policy, and Practice

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Rizzuto, Gina M.

• creolization
• content analysis
• plantation
• creole
• Civil War
• Black
• African American
• slavery
• literacy
• education
• pedagogy
• plantation context heuristic
• history
• slave-making strategies
• school
• educative agency
• culture
• mixed methods
• slave narratives
• Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Statement dc:rights

• withheld
• Secure the entire work for patent and/or proprietary purposes for a period of one year. Student has submitted appropriate documentation which states: During this period the copyright owner also agrees not to exercise her/his ownership rights, including public use in works, without prior authorization from LSU. At the end of the one year period, either we or LSU may request an automatic extension for one additional year. At the end of the one year secure period (or its extension, if such is requested), the work will be released for access worldwide.

Identifier

etd-01272014-110452
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/839

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.lsu.edu:gradschool_dissertations-1838