Reclaiming space and memory: Black cowboys and the right to the city

Abstract

This article draws on ethnographic observations from a Black trail ride event in Houston to examine how African Americans negotiate identities and spaces through embodied memories and mobility. Movement and mobility have always influenced racialised belonging through the geopolitics of borders and boundaries, which are inextricably tied to collective meanings of “blackness.” Everyday negotiations of blackness require Black Americans to reckon with the historical and contemporary implications of limited mobility and their place in U.S. society. Engaging with Lefebvre's notion of “the right to the city,” this article reflects on how Black trail riders challenge dominant constructions of space and belonging through collective movement and memory. By analysing a specific ethnographic moment during the trail ride, when Black participants moved from a place bounded by property lines to the space of city streets, the article explores the intersections of race, geography, and mobility. It considers how embodied memories and public reclamations of the past by Black communities pose a threat to established spatial and racial hierarchies. The article contributes to theoretical discourses on geopolitics, borders, and boundaries by centering the experiences and agency of Black trail riders in reimagining and navigating racialised landscapes.