Collective Memory and the Recasting of Post-Civil War African-American Identity in Selected Toni Morrison's Novels

After the emancipation, the African-Americans come to recognize the necessity of rebuilding their identity and redefining their blackness. This recognition is seemingly motivated by their post-civil war need to demolish the negative stereotypes long established and believed about them, change the American cultural context and enhance their living conditions. Taking into consideration its performative role and discursive nature, the African-American writers arrive to make an exceptional use of collective memory and its genuine narratives in order to recast their unique identity. As it has formerly been noticed, the process of collective remembering follows three major steps that are: construction, reconstruction and deconstruction. No doubt, these techniques have helped to condemn the lingering racist practices and their destructive outcomes, provide a more accurate conception of blackness and ultimately transcend the earlier established blacks' image into another one which is strong, innovative and full of possibilities. The theoretical background of this research will subsequently be applied on a number of Toni Morrison's novels.