The Intersections of Structural Violence and Social Agency in Plantation Geographies

This paper explores the intersections between the structural oppressions and violence of slavery and the social agency of captive people in the US South. In a collaborative partnership of descendant community members, institutional community partners, and archaeologists, this investigation focuses on the oral histories, historical documents, and archaeological material culture of Black women, men, and children associated with the Fanny Dickins plantation. This antebellum plantation is located in the modern 18,000-acre Ames land base near Memphis, Tennessee. Through an intersectional inquiry and praxis, variations in the everyday violence and material humanity associated with plantation geographies are unearthed, helping to reconstruct the historical continuation and influence of slavery from the past to the present.