Venetria K. Patton is Associate Professor of English and Director of the African American Studies and Research Center at Purdue University. She is the author of Women in Chains: The Legacy of Slavery in Black Women's Fiction, also published by SUNY Press, and coeditor (with Maureen Honey) of Double-Take: A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology.

"Patton makes a compelling argument about the significance of female relationships in African American culture as illustrated through stories that focus on mothers and daughters and on other female characters who fulfill the mother role, especially in connection to historical family figures … Though several of the novels she examines have been widely analyzed, Patton provides fresh insights into the characters and potential causes for their actions." — CHOICE"Patton's book examines systematically the living role of the elder and the ancestor in literary works by African American women. Bringing these roles and relationships into critical literary discourse is revelatory and real. Patton's buttressing sources include not only those of the literary scholar, but also well-known works by scholars of African and African American art and religion. This is a wonderful and long overdue contribution." — Joanne M. Braxton, Director, Middle Passage Project, College of William and Mary

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Revising The Legacy of Kinlessness Through Elders and AncestorsPart I Preface: The Elder as Culture Bearer 1. Othermothers as Elders and Culture Bearers in Daughters of the Dust and The Salt EatersPart II Preface: The Dead Are Not Dead: The Ancestral Presence 2. Ancestral Prodding in Praisesong for the Widow3. Ancestral Disturbances in Stigmata4. Beloved: A Ghost Story with an Ogbanje TwistPart III Preface: The Child and Ancestor Bond 5. The Child Figure as a Means to Ancestral Knowledge in Daughters of the Dust and A Sunday in JuneConclusion: Looking Backward and Forward: The Ancestral Presence in Speculative FictionNotesBibliographyIndex

Venetria K. Patton is Associate Professor of English and Director of the African American Studies and Research Center at Purdue University. She is the author of Women in Chains: The Legacy of Slavery in Black Women's Fiction, also published by SUNY Press, and coeditor (with Maureen Honey) of Double-Take: A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology.

"Patton makes a compelling argument about the significance of female relationships in African American culture as illustrated through stories that focus on mothers and daughters and on other female characters who fulfill the mother role, especially in connection to historical family figures … Though several of the novels she examines have been widely analyzed, Patton provides fresh insights into the characters and potential causes for their actions." — CHOICE"Patton's book examines systematically the living role of the elder and the ancestor in literary works by African American women. Bringing these roles and relationships into critical literary discourse is revelatory and real. Patton's buttressing sources include not only those of the literary scholar, but also well-known works by scholars of African and African American art and religion. This is a wonderful and long overdue contribution." — Joanne M. Braxton, Director, Middle Passage Project, College of William and Mary

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Revising The Legacy of Kinlessness Through Elders and AncestorsPart I Preface: The Elder as Culture Bearer 1. Othermothers as Elders and Culture Bearers in Daughters of the Dust and The Salt EatersPart II Preface: The Dead Are Not Dead: The Ancestral Presence 2. Ancestral Prodding in Praisesong for the Widow3. Ancestral Disturbances in Stigmata4. Beloved: A Ghost Story with an Ogbanje TwistPart III Preface: The Child and Ancestor Bond 5. The Child Figure as a Means to Ancestral Knowledge in Daughters of the Dust and A Sunday in JuneConclusion: Looking Backward and Forward: The Ancestral Presence in Speculative FictionNotesBibliographyIndex

Venetria K. Patton is Associate Professor of English and Director of the African American Studies and Research Center at Purdue University. She is the author of Women in Chains: The Legacy of Slavery in Black Women's Fiction, also published by SUNY Press, and coeditor (with Maureen Honey) of Double-Take: A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology.

"Patton makes a compelling argument about the significance of female relationships in African American culture as illustrated through stories that focus on mothers and daughters and on other female characters who fulfill the mother role, especially in connection to historical family figures … Though several of the novels she examines have been widely analyzed, Patton provides fresh insights into the characters and potential causes for their actions." — CHOICE"Patton's book examines systematically the living role of the elder and the ancestor in literary works by African American women. Bringing these roles and relationships into critical literary discourse is revelatory and real. Patton's buttressing sources include not only those of the literary scholar, but also well-known works by scholars of African and African American art and religion. This is a wonderful and long overdue contribution." — Joanne M. Braxton, Director, Middle Passage Project, College of William and Mary

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Revising The Legacy of Kinlessness Through Elders and AncestorsPart I Preface: The Elder as Culture Bearer 1. Othermothers as Elders and Culture Bearers in Daughters of the Dust and The Salt EatersPart II Preface: The Dead Are Not Dead: The Ancestral Presence 2. Ancestral Prodding in Praisesong for the Widow3. Ancestral Disturbances in Stigmata4. Beloved: A Ghost Story with an Ogbanje TwistPart III Preface: The Child and Ancestor Bond 5. The Child Figure as a Means to Ancestral Knowledge in Daughters of the Dust and A Sunday in JuneConclusion: Looking Backward and Forward: The Ancestral Presence in Speculative FictionNotesBibliographyIndex