Abstract
Harlem loomed large in the imagination of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, one of the twentieth
century’s most significant composers and an important theorist of the condition of being
black and American. This article provides insights into Ellington’s social thought by foregrounding
his evocations of Harlem and his efforts to interpolate that neighborhood into the physical,
cultural, and imaginative spaces of US national life. In doing so, it also situates Ellington’s ideas
in relation to the competing intellectual currents of the Harlem Renaissance movement that had
inspired his project of racial vindication. More broadly, the article argues that understanding of
the history of African American ideas of race and nation benefits from analysis of discursive
place-making and the spatial practices of artistic and intellectual work. Attending to space
and place recuperates the complexity and multiplicity of such ideas, which are often concealed
by abstracted discussion of concepts such as “integration.”
century’s most significant composers and an important theorist of the condition of being
black and American. This article provides insights into Ellington’s social thought by foregrounding
his evocations of Harlem and his efforts to interpolate that neighborhood into the physical,
cultural, and imaginative spaces of US national life. In doing so, it also situates Ellington’s ideas
in relation to the competing intellectual currents of the Harlem Renaissance movement that had
inspired his project of racial vindication. More broadly, the article argues that understanding of
the history of African American ideas of race and nation benefits from analysis of discursive
place-making and the spatial practices of artistic and intellectual work. Attending to space
and place recuperates the complexity and multiplicity of such ideas, which are often concealed
by abstracted discussion of concepts such as “integration.”
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 499 - 526 |
| Number of pages | 28 |
| Journal | Modern Intellectual History |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 8 Feb 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2022 |