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Through a close reading of Natasha Trethewey's memoir Memorial Drive as an archive, this thesis argues her texts functions as a site of critical fabulation, weaving together historical records, personal recollections, and imagination to provide a futuristic vision for Black communities built upon active participation with one's ancestral past. Extending this theoretical framework into the digital humanities, this project also includes the creation of an imaginative digital archive titled, \"The Halsey Family Archive.\" This interdisciplinary approach, bridging together African American literary studies, archival studies, and digital humanities, challenges traditional archival practices that position Black life as static rather than a dynamic site of reimagination.","abstract_html":"This thesis explores how memory, specifically in the context of Black women's narratives, is not merely preserved and documented but engaged with through imagination, shaping memory as dynamic. Engaging Saidiya Hartman's concept of critical fabulation, this project examines how archival absences, gaps, and silences are countered through imaginative storytelling in both literary and digital spaces. Through a close reading of Natasha Trethewey's memoir Memorial Drive as an archive, this thesis argues her texts functions as a site of critical fabulation, weaving together historical records, personal recollections, and imagination to provide a futuristic vision for Black communities built upon active participation with one's ancestral past. Extending this theoretical framework into the digital humanities, this project also includes the creation of an imaginative digital archive titled, "The Halsey Family Archive." 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Engaging Saidiya Hartman's concept of critical fabulation, this project examines how archival absences, gaps, and silences are countered through imaginative storytelling in both literary and digital spaces. Through a close reading of Natasha Trethewey's memoir Memorial Drive as an archive, this thesis argues her texts functions as a site of critical fabulation, weaving together historical records, personal recollections, and imagination to provide a futuristic vision for Black communities built upon active participation with one's ancestral past. Extending this theoretical framework into the digital humanities, this project also includes the creation of an imaginative digital archive titled, \"The Halsey Family Archive.\" This interdisciplinary approach, bridging together African American literary studies, archival studies, and digital humanities, challenges traditional archival practices that position Black life as static rather than a dynamic site of reimagination."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstractgeneral","label":"General Abstract","values":["narratives, is not merely preserved and documented but engaged with through imagination, shaping memory as dynamic. Drawing on Saidiya Hartman's concept of critical fabulation, I consider how creative and imaginative approaches can fill in archival gaps with care and intention. This project begins with a close reading of Natasha Trethewey's memoir Memorial Drive, which I conceptualize as an archive using Hartman's critical fabulation. From there, I extend this theoretical framework to create a digital archive titled, \"The Halsey Family Archive,\" centered around my family's matriarch Annie Pearl Halsey. Ultimately, this thesis asks, \"How might imagination help fill in silences and gaps in ancestral memory?\""]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Imagination and Ancestral Memory in Memorial Drive and the Halsey Family Archive"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Thompson, Tyechia"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Waldman, Emily","Chandler, Gena Elise"],"dc:contributor.department":["English"],"dc:creator":["Halsey, Jessica Chantel"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2025-06-03T08:04:10Z"],"dc:date.available":["2025-06-03T08:04:10Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2025-06-02"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis explores how memory, specifically in the context of Black women's narratives, is not merely preserved and documented but engaged with through imagination, shaping memory as dynamic. 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Extending this theoretical framework into the digital humanities, this project also includes the creation of an imaginative digital archive titled, \"The Halsey Family Archive.\" This interdisciplinary approach, bridging together African American literary studies, archival studies, and digital humanities, challenges traditional archival practices that position Black life as static rather than a dynamic site of reimagination."],"dc:description.abstractgeneral":["narratives, is not merely preserved and documented but engaged with through imagination, shaping memory as dynamic. Drawing on Saidiya Hartman's concept of critical fabulation, I consider how creative and imaginative approaches can fill in archival gaps with care and intention. This project begins with a close reading of Natasha Trethewey's memoir Memorial Drive, which I conceptualize as an archive using Hartman's critical fabulation. From there, I extend this theoretical framework to create a digital archive titled, \"The Halsey Family Archive,\" centered around my family's matriarch Annie Pearl Halsey. Ultimately, this thesis asks, \"How might imagination help fill in silences and gaps in ancestral memory?\""],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Arts"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:44182"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/134991"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"],"dc:subject":["critical fabulation","digital archives","black memoir"],"dc:title":["Imagination and Ancestral Memory in Memorial Drive and the Halsey Family Archive"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:12Z"}