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Toward an Equitable Agrarian Commonwealth: Race and the Agrarian Tradition in the Works of Wendell Berry, Allen Tate, and Jean Toomer

Earnhardt, Eric D.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1307131143

Abstract Details

2011, Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, English (Arts and Sciences).
The concept of commonweal broadly refers both to the welfare of the public and to the equitable distribution of power and wealth. Thus, the formation of a commonwealth has been a significant part of the American dream, especially in its formulation by Thomas Jefferson and his agrarian vision of a landed, independent, educated citizenry. The inherent contradiction with this model in the United States, however, has always been the exploitation of certain members of the public. The welfare of African slaves was not taken into account and their freedom and humanity were consistently undermined. This essay explores three literary figures of the twentieth century in order to trace how an agrarian vision of democracy manifests itself today. The representations of agrarianism by Jean Toomer in Cane (1923) and by the Southern Agrarian Allen Tate in his essays, “Religion and the Old South” (1930) and “The Profession of Letters in the South” (1935), can be viewed as parallel streams running in similar directions and with contiguous goals, though never meeting or allowing mutual influence. Today, The Hidden Wound (1970) by neo-agrarian writer Wendell Berry may be viewed as a flood bringing the two streams, two conversations, together through an honest exploration of the culture of racism that kept them so utterly separate. Issuing from this confluence of parallel perspectives is a new course: an agrarianism that proceeds from a stance of racial equality, of cooperation grounded in ecological and economic limits, and of pursuit of the realization of commonwealth.
Amritjit Singh, PhD (Advisor)
Marilyn Atlas, PhD (Committee Member)
Albert Rouzie, PhD (Committee Member)
75 p.
Aesthetics; African American Studies; African Americans; African History; African Literature; African Studies; Agricultural Economics; Agricultural Education; Agriculture; Agronomy; American History; American Literature; American Studies; Black History; Black Studies; C
Wendell Berry; Allen Tate; Jean Toomer; Agrarianism; Race; Commonwealth; Equitable; Economy

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Earnhardt, E. D. (2011). Toward an Equitable Agrarian Commonwealth: Race and the Agrarian Tradition in the Works of Wendell Berry, Allen Tate, and Jean Toomer [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1307131143

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Earnhardt, Eric. Toward an Equitable Agrarian Commonwealth: Race and the Agrarian Tradition in the Works of Wendell Berry, Allen Tate, and Jean Toomer. 2011. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1307131143.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Earnhardt, Eric. "Toward an Equitable Agrarian Commonwealth: Race and the Agrarian Tradition in the Works of Wendell Berry, Allen Tate, and Jean Toomer." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1307131143

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.