CFP: SSSL Rebecca Harding Davis Panel

Borderlands, Boundaries, and Contested Spaces in the Writings of Rebecca Harding Davis

This panel examines the representation of borders and boundaries— geographical, moral, social, political, racial, psychological, philosophical, etc. — in the works of Rebecca Harding Davis. From contested spaces to complex constructions of identity beyond the usual North/South binary, many of Davis’s writings from the Civil War years and after feature a fascination with the idea of borders and the transgression or dissolution of clear boundaries. Having spent much of her life in the borderlands of Virginia and Pennsylvania, as well as West Virginia after 1863, Davis experienced life on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line and lived in communities that were often divided in loyalty to the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. As she wrote in her memoir Bits of Gossip, “We occupied the place of Hawthorne’s unfortunate man who saw both sides.” Shaped by this experience, many of her works show her continued fascination with the complex reality of living in a place where sectional identity and allegiance are in constant flux and chaotic forces threaten to dismantle characters’ values and belief systems. This panel invites proposals that address the topic of borders, boundaries, or contested spaces and identities in one or more works by Davis. We particularly welcome innovative approaches that connect a discussion of Davis to the conference theme of rethinking the “South” or southern identity beyond borders, bars, and binaries.

Please send proposals (200 words) and bios (100 words) to Robin Cadwallader (rcadwallader@francis.edu) and Vanessa Steinroetter (vanessa.steinroetter@washburn.edu) by Oct 12th.