The architecture
of the slave is an architecture of the periphery.
When the slave was
forced to take centre stage within the plantation, the planter could afford to
live at its periphery: on the hilltop, or in
There the geometry
of serving and served achieved sublime proportions. Country houses of the 18th
and early nineteenth century were often fitted with two entwining circulation
systems: one for the owner, the other for his servants. The film The remains of
the day give a beautiful example of it.
When the salve
broke out of the plantation, in what ever way, he was automatically relegated
to the periphery by having to settle in unwanted land.
He always
inhabited the place he does not want to inhabit. No wonder that his idea of the
afterlife and its consequent ceremonies often involved a dreamlike homecoming.