American Cockroaches, Racism, and the Ecology of the Slave Ship

Authors

  • Lindsay Garcia William & Mary, USA

Abstract

Garcia follows the migration of the American cockroach from its tropical origins in western Africa via slave ships to the New World, and discusses the erroneous relationship between cockroaches, trade ships, and slavery, and the deplorable connection between free African Americans, hygiene, health, and predjudice.

Author Biography

Lindsay Garcia, William & Mary, USA

Lindsay Garcia is a fourth year PhD student in American Studies at the College of William and Mary with a specialization in American and contemporary art history and visual culture, animal studies, and activism. Her dissertation looks at the rhetoric, art, and visual culture of the “pest” in relation to intersectional human identities. Garcia holds a BFA in Sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design, an MA in Contemporary Art from Sotheby’s Institute of Art, an MFA in Visual Art from SUNY Purchase, and an MA in American Studies from the College of William and Mary.

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Published

2017-10-24

Issue

2017

Section

Autumn

License

Copyright (c) 2017 CC BY 4.0 Lindsay Garcia

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.