Using a conditional matrix to develop understanding of appearance of african american women in female slave narratives

摘要

Appearance provides cues to the cultural, political, social, aesthetic, and economic aspects of an individual's life. This study analyzed appearance as described in slave narratives written by African American women after emancipation, using semiotics as a theoretical framework. Descriptions of appearance in these texts provide clues to African American women's positioning in society by comparison to a conditional matrix.