A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Intersectional Cultural Memory as Memory Activism in Michelle Cliff's Free Enterprise;




AuthorsIlmonen, Kaisa

PublisherCopenhagen Business School

Publication year2026

Journal: American Studies in Scandinavia

Volume58

First page 43

Last page59

ISSN0044-8060

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.22439/asis.v58i1.7798

Publication's open availability at the time of reportingOpen Access

Publication channel's open availability Open Access publication channel

Web address https://rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/assc/article/view/7798

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/526546989

Self-archived copy's licenceCC BY NC ND

Self-archived copy's versionPublisher`s PDF


Abstract

Cultural memory concerns the question of how we remember, and cultural memory studies examines the collective frames and cultural narratives that shape our individual remembering. This article examines the potential of intersectionality as a mode of cultural and collective remembering in Michelle Cliff’s novel Free Enterprise (1993) and suggests that the novel is an attempt to rewrite US cultural memory, and particularly the history of the US Civil War, from a memory activist perspective. This article argues that Cliff’s novel presents a narrative process that complements documented and foundational US cultural memory frames. While intersectionality has been gainful in the exploration of identities and social structures, this article specifically seeks the analytic potentiality of the application of intersectional cultural memory studies at a symbolic level. Free Enterprise offers an intersectional rewriting of the history of slavery and the US Civil War by centering the powerful activism of women, people of color, disabled people, and queer people, turning the reimagining of US cultural memory into memory activism.



Keywords:
Cultural MemoryIntersectionalitymemory activismMichelle Cliff

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Funding information in the publication
Turku Institute for Advanced Studies


Last updated on 18/06/2026 10:12:53 AM