STRUGGLING FOR FREEDOM: AN EXPLORATION OF CAPTIVE AUTOBIOGRAPHIES FOR THE REVOLUTIONARY PROCESS

Abstract

This thesis explores two cornerstone texts of captive autobiography: Angela Davis: An Autobiography and Assata: An Autobiography. Putting them in conversation with each other, I examine how the texts theorize freedom and resistance while in captivity. Analyzing how the authors reject the I and biographize a We, I focus on uncovering the smaller, more mundane organizing efforts that lay beneath the spectacular era of the 1960s social movements. I argue that these narratives are an invitation for us to dream of resistance beyond the strategic, moving us towards a more expansive understanding of the revolutionary process.