Review

Author(s): Susan G. Davis

Review by: Susan G. Davis
Source: The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 106, No. 421 (Summer, 1993), pp. 356-358
Published by: American Folklore Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/541432
Accessed: 12-02-2016 06:46 UTC

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356 Journalcf AmericanFolklore106 (1993)

Both the exhibitionand the book approach its own right, and this brief treatment-with
the subjectof African-Americanquiltmaking only two illustrations-merelytantalizeswith-
inclusively.The quilts selected include 19th- out satisfyingone's appetite.Still, the chapter
century works that have been identified by serves to suggest a context in which quilts
supporting documentation as having been participate in the celebration of African-
madeby Blackwomen, as well as worksof the Americanlife.
late20th century.In discussingillustratedearly- Admittedly,this book providesonly an in-
19th-centuryexamplesindistinguishablefrom complete picture of African-Americanquilt-
the works of white women from the same making. It serves to suggest the range and
period, Benberry questionsthe assertionthat diversityof the subjectandpointsout how few
enslavedquiltmakerswere "merely the me- data are actuallyavailable.Benberry has suc-
chanical means"for carryingout the designs ceeded in opening up the definition of what
andinstructionsof white mistresses(p.23). She may be consideredan African-Americanquilt
argues that such assumptions trivialize the beyond the limitationsof what looks African
works of Black seamstresseswho may as well to American writers. "For a very long time,
have been self-taught or taught by other quiltmakinghas penetrated deeply into the
Blacks. fabric of African-Americansociety. Yet our
One of the most enlightening sections of researchof black-made quilts is just a little
Benberry'sbook dealswith three generations beyond the selvedgesof that fabric.We must
of quiltmakersin the Perkinsfamily.The seven cut more deeply into thatfabric.They deserve
quiltsincludedfromthis family"weremadein no less-those multitudesof blackquiltmakers
both urbanand ruralsettingsby a middleclass whose works havealwaysmaintainedan Afri-
African-American family and represent a can-Americanpresence in American quilts"
quiltmaking continuum ... and they range (pp.79-80).
frombasicutilitariancoversto purposelydeco- While folklorists,who often draw conclu-
rativeshow pieces"(p.51). Quilts fromthe late sions from limited surviving songs and skills
19th and early 20th centuries that can be while lacking historicaldocumentation,may
feel that Benberry too readily dismissesthe
positively identified with African-American
makers are rare enough, but this important visual connections to Africantraditions,they
collection of family quilts and accompanying cannot ignore the author'scall to recognizea
artifactsand documents is particularlynote- broaderrangeofAfrican-Americanquilts.This
is an importantbook for restoringthe balance
worthyfor the pictureit providesus of the lives
of Black quiltmakers. between what is known and what is specula-
The strongestsection of the book dealswith tion.
the works of contemporaryquiltmakersand
fabricartists.The inclusionofstatementsby the
creatorsenhancesour appreciationof the di- Landscapes of Power: From Detroit to
Disney World. By SharonZukin. (Berkeley:
versityof their talent and servesto remindus
of how much of this rich context unfortu- Universityof CaliforniaPress,1991. Pp. xii +
275, photographs,map,notes,index. Pricenot
nately is now missingfrom the discussionsof
historicalquilts.Particularlysignificantarethe given)
worksthatcommemoratenoted historicalfig-
ures,such as performerJosephine Baker,and SUSANG. DAVIS
those that consciouslyseek to incorporateAf- of California,SanDiego
University
rican design elements. The works of profes-
sionalartistsappearalong with the productsof In the developed world of the late 20th
a reading class and a high-school parent- century,well-known and humanly knowable
teacherassociation. places-and indeed perhapsthe humansenses
The leastsuccessfulsectionis a finalchapter, of place-are arguablyat risk.In North Amer-
"ArtistsandAuthors,"whichbrieflychronicles ica, a simultaneouslyfalteringand globalizing
the ways that Black artistsand writers have economy, more than a decade of unfettered
incorporatedquiltsand quiltmakinginto their and
real-estatespeculation,deindustrialization
work.This is a subjectthatdeservesvolumesin capitalflight,urbanredevelopment and subur-

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 BookReviews 357

banization,and mass standardizationof new economic fightsoverdeindustrialization to the

modesofconsumption(malls,fast-foodoutlets, forces of consumption and corporationsin
and more malls)havecombinedto rip the guts shapingcommunitiesis a strongandambitious
out of industrialcitiesandreshapethe country. one: this is a project well worth doing. But,
As geographers,urbantheorists,and cultural finally,Landscapes of Poweris frustratingand
analystsof manyschoolshavepointedout that, unsatisfying.
while the materialface of the social world is There areseveralmajorproblems.The first
being transformed,the concepts of landscape is that,despitethe case-studystrategy,the book
andplacearein crisis.Buthow canwe theorize seems at the same time overtheorized and
landscape-how can we describeand analyze underdeveloped.Despite assertionsof the im-
people's relationshipto the physical world portance of place,the introduction to Land-
aroundthem-when this materialityis so rap- scapesof Powermakes clear that Zukin is less
idly and uncontrollablyalteredby such seem- concerned with demonstratingwhy and how
ing abstractionsas marketforces or, to be less enormous revaluatingshifts have occurred,
abstract,by decisionsmadeelsewhere? than with delineating the import of such
These problemsareof pressingimportance changesforbuildinga sociologicalhigh theory
to folklorists and other scholars concerned of spatialrelations.(In severalplaces she is at
with the tensionsbetween culturalcontinuity pains to eschew directlycausalexplanations.)
and change and the problemsof defining- She posits a fundamentalopposition between
evenidentifying--communityand traditionin "marketculture"(looselymeaningthe expan-
cities wrackedby crisisand instability.Sharon sive,universalizingvaluesof capitalism)andthe
Zukin's Landscapes of Powerholds promise of cultureof place(whichseeminglymeansolder
giving us tools to work towarda more sophis- localitiesand ways of life). The currentland-
ticatedsense of the relationshipbetween eve- scape,shewrites,isthe paradoxicalresultof this
rydaylife and worldwideupheaval,offeringa opposition. "Because landscapeis the most
series of case-study-basedmeditationson the importantproductof both power and imagi-
conflictsbetween what she calls "marketcul- nation,it is the majorculturalproductof our
ture"and the "cultureof place" In studiesof time"(p.268). One resultis thather theoretical
very differentkinds of locales ranging across discussionsare conducted at such a level of
steel-millingtowns,WestchesterCounty'scor- abstractionthat,when she turns to focus on a
poratesuburbs,the restaurantscene of gentri- locale or landscape,the inertiacreatedby shift-
fying Manhattan,and the TV-touristic ar- ing inteliectualgearsis overwhelming.And yet,
chitecturesof South Florida,Zukin tries to despitegreatdetailaboutparticularconditions,
theorize the impactof the unsettlingchanges we do not reallyget a senseof thelocalstruggle.
in nationaland world economic organization Sustainedfocus throughout on one local
on the landscape.She finds that, on the one history might have eased the disjunction.It
hand, local organizationssuch as unions and might alsohavelet readersin on a mysterythat
church groups fighting abandonmentby the persiststhroughoutLandscapes of Power-why
steelindustryhavelittlepoliticalandeconomic it is thatwe shouldgive valueto place.Excerpts
autonomy with which to defend their com- from novels give brief empathic entry into
munitiesand waysof life.On the other hand, disrupted lives and shattered personal net-
andnot surprisingly, she findsthatin the newer works;the conclusion assertsthat "men and
landscapes of consumption-receptacles of women still want to live in specificplaces"(p.
fleeingcapital--powerandvalueareabstracted 275), but this is the extent of exploration.
into visualhigh style,andtheseappliedsurfaces Zukin largely discusses the sense of place
of grit and authenticityin turn createa new through referencesto abstractedimages of
surrealityfor landscapes. As she puts it, "Tragi- place (photographs, paintings,the iconography
callyfor any attemptto modernize the indus- of industry) ratherthan through the life of
trial economy, the will to produce, the place.Of course,men and women continue to
direction of investment,and the socialization live in specificplaces,but under what condi-
of desirehavebeen incorporatedinto the or- tions? If the senseof place--local life as lived,
ganizationof consumption"(p.253). The strat- urban folklife, vernacularculture, collective
egy of comparingthe course of politicaland memory,whateverwe choose to call the expe-

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358 ofAmerican
Journal Folklore
106 (1993)

rience-is central to constructinga humane two maps, 30 illustrations,six tables, notes,

world,as folklorists,anthropologists,and poets indexes. $35.00 cloth, $16.95 paper)
know it is, Zukin should let us in on why she
thinksso. MICHAEL ANN WILLIAMS
A relatedproblemis that Zukin is unhelp- Western
KentuckyUniversity
fullyabstractin discussingthe forcesat work in
reshapingthe landscape.She relies heavily on For 28 years, the Christopher orphans
the economistJosephSchumpeter's insightthat nurseda grudgeagainsttheirstepfather.Finally,
capitalismkeeps itself alive through "creative in 1812, they filed suit againsthim, charging
destruction"by tearing itself down, building
him with defraudingthem of their rightful
new formsof organizationon the rubbleof the
estate.In his new study,TheStolenHouse,Ber-
old. This is a useful insight, but it is more
nardL. Hermanuses the lawsuitof Christopher
metaphorical than explanatory.Of course, as an entrywayinto the materialworld
marketforces have long encroachedon local v.Jacobs
of a community in the cypress swamps of
autonomies-or, more precisely,places have southernDelawareduringthe quartercentury
long been involvedin marketsof varioussizes
and kinds.The most recent forms of creative followingthe AmericanRevolution.However,
Hermandoes not stopat the reconstructionof
destructionhave been a long time gathering,
the Christophers'landscapeand physicalsur-
but from the 1970s onward they have had a
roundings. Distinguishing between object-
mighty helping hand fromspecificpublic and centered and object-driven material culture
private policies, legislation, administrations, studies,Hermanpushesbeyond the objectsto
regulations,andderegulation.Zukingesturesat the social relationshipsand sharedknowledge
these facts,but if the landscapeis a material
they represent.As Hermanargues,the "signifi-
expression of power and imagination, why cance of artifactsstemsfromthe waysin which
should the authordiscussthe social shapesof
they constitute structuredexpressivesystems
powerandimaginationin the passivevoice and and perceptual,reproducibleand alterablere-
allow them to hide behind the abstractterm
alities"(p.225).
destruction?
creative
As the story of the Christophers'lawsuit
Some of what Zukin describes has been
unfolds, Herman uses the legal proceedings
presentedbefore,andin manyplaceswith more themselves,along with each of the orphans'
attention to the costs to communities and
major complaints,as points of departurefor
cultures-excruciatingly so in BarbaraKop-
explorationsof thisturbulentperiodin Ameri-
ple's film "American Dream," Michael can history.The plaintiffsfelt themselvesde-
Moore's "Roger and Me," and Barry
frauded of material goods. However, it is
Bluestone and Bennett Harrison'sThe Dein-
evident thattheirallegedloss of timber,fenced
dustrializationof America(New York: Basic
andcultivatedland,andtwo housessymbolized
Books, 1982), for example.In geography,the far more than their materialworth. Material
work of David Harvey and Neil Smith pose
similar and closely related questions more thingsobjectifyabstractsocial meanings.Her-
man explores the natureof the worth of the
clearly.Zukin is at her creativebest taking up timberlands,the meaningof fenced land,and
questionsof the relationbetween style,style- the social relationshipsencoded in the build-
makers (for example, architects,critics, and
fashionablechet), andshiftsin capital.Overall, ings. Ultimately,througha sort of folkloristic
archaeology,TheStolenHousepresentsa recon-
folkloristswould do well to scan Landscapes of structed ethnographyof a specific time and
Power,follow Zukin'sfootnotes carefully,and
place.
turn to the earliergeographers,historians,and
In lieu of an introduction,TheStolenHouse
theorists.
begins with a presentationof an "interpretive
framework,"although the author generously
suggeststhatsome maywish to skipthissection
or readit last.Indeed,while some readersmay
The Stolen House. By BernardL. Herman. find this essayworthwhile,it is not absolutely
(Charlottesville:UniversityPressof Virginia, vital to the study.Furthermore,its placement
1992. Pp. xii + 286, preface,18 photographs, at the beginningof the studymaybe somewhat

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