Rebecca Haddaway

Graduate Fall 2023: Rebecca Haddaway

Geographical Visualities of Race and Health in Antebellum U.S. Culture

Center & Institutes Humanities Dissertation Release Graduate Scholar

English and Visual Studies

My dissertation explores medical visions of race and the human body that emerged from political and ethical conversations at the intersection of abolitionism and medicine between the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. My project seeks to understand: what impact did abolitionism have on visions of the body in antebellum medicine? I focus on abolitionist visions of the body and health as situated in geographical space and community in moments such as the 1788 New York anatomy riot, the 1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic, and healing and death events of the Haitian Revolution. I am also creating a public-facing digital map project that combines narratives in a variety of textual media, explanations of events, and visual and material cultural artifacts from the several moments covered by my dissertation.