abstract: Throughout Let Us Descend , Jesmyn Ward positions a Black female protagonist within a particular southscape, encompassing cosmological, ecological, and historical contexts. Her writing demonstrates the ways in which southern environs fuel hope in tandem with suffering. Furthermore, Africanbased conjure practices prioritize a belief that communion with nature can open portals of communication, power, and escape. Celebrating the crucial role of foraging practices and fungi as sources of survival, Ward foregrounds new recognition of enslaved Black female foragers' roles in the southern United States.
Bethany Weston (Thu,) studied this question.