Radio Free Dixie from Cuba to the Black Belt: mapping Black nationhood through cartographies of sonic rhetoric

In this essay, I follow sound across hegemonic geopolitical boundaries to map its place-making force in the emergence of new forms of nationhood. Through an analysis of Mabel and Robert F. William's radio show, Radio Free Dixie, I argue that racialized Southern culture was respatialized and reimagined, positioning the Black Belt as a Black nation where citizenship is rooted in self-determination. This analysis demonstrates that utilizing sonic rhetorics as a mode through which to uncover Black geographies offers insight into practices of nation building that diverge from existing forms of Westphalian sovereignty that manifest as colonial and racialized domination.