On the Uses of Metaphor and Allusion in Historical Sociology of Race

Angel A. Parham, University of Virginia

What is it that historical sociology contributes to telling stories about the past? An important part of its contribution is equipping us to put past and present into fruitful dialogue in ways that help us to envision and work toward a more equitable future. In this sense, historical sociology on race and racial inequality can help those who study its texts to cultivate their historical and social imaginations. While the sociological imagination is much referred to in undergraduate sociology courses, the idea of the imagination and its social significance are rarely subjects of serious sociological research. This paper considers the significance of the imagination in inviting everyday people to understand and come to terms with social and historical material on race and racial inequality that many in the American public are eager to forget, and it does do by considering the potential uses of metaphor and allusion. In particular, I consider the ways two novels—Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Michael Cunningham’s The Hours—deal with difficult social issues across historical time and I discuss the ways my current book project, “Layered Memories”, is developing in analytical dialogue with these literary works. This framing of “Layered Memories” is generously informed by the theoretical and methodological approach of French historian Ivan Jablonka in his books History is a Contemporary Literature and A History of the Grandparents I Never Had.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 106. Theoretical Perspectives on Race