Journal Entry for Freedom Ain’t Free
This move revolved around the economic aspects of conjuring and roots that are present in Charles Chestnutt’s Conjure Tales. It was informed largely by Kameelah Martin’s Conjuring Moments in African American Literature: Women, Spirit Work, and Other Such Hoodoo. In it, she discusses the economic autonomy that the conjuring woman possesses as well as its limitations. She cites Richard Brodhead, who states that
The practice of conjure is complexly characterized in these tales, where it combines occult properties of magic with the thisworldly, even businesslike properties of a social administration system. Conjure figures in these tales as a way to control property and settle property disputes, a way to regulate love conflicts, and, in “A Victim of Heredity,” even as a bank, and it is used by whites and blacks. But above all conjure figures as a recourse, a form of power available to the powerless in morally intolerable situations. (Brodhead 9).
Martin further emphasizes that “Chestnutt grants more mobility and autonomy than any of his other characters with the exception of Julius” (59). This can be seen in Chestnutt’s description of her, for she is described as being free, and living amongst other former enslaved peoples. Aunt Peggy, Chestnutt’s quintessential representation of the conjuring woman, gathers her power from some place outside of the institution of slavery. Her power comes from her “roots,” both literally and figuratively. I decided to play with this aspect through her manners of speech and use of colloquialisms. I wished to display the odd manner in which the conjuring woman navigates the roles of master/slave in a mode that is made evident and visceral to the reader. This led me to play with using colloquialism and “regular” modes of speech interchangeably.
In a previous move I played with the idea of the conjuring woman is a hand of justice. In this move, I seek to complicate that notion with economics. Martin states that
Aunt Peggy is neither malicious nor overly conservative in the types of conjure she performs. She performs for the customer who renders fair payment, putting her own well-being at the top of her priorities. She does, however, seem inclined to consider the suffering of fellow African Americans (Martin 60).
The conjuring woman, though flirting on the boundaries of the peculiar institution, undoubtedly profits from it. Be it enslaved person or master, it seems that both groups sometimes turn to her for aid – to her benefit.
Martin, Kameelah L. Conjuring Moments in African American Literature: Women, Spirit Work, and Other Such Hoodoo. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.