ENGLISH 1C06 Lecture : History of English Literature - Jan.10 Slave Narratives
6 Mar 2012
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Document Summary
1500-1900: 12 million africans brought to the americas: 15% died on the middle passage. 1680 1800: the height of the british slave trade (period currently studied) 1772: mansfield decision to effectively abolish slavery in england. 1807: slave trade act abolishes the trade in the empire, but not in the colonies. 1833: the idea of people as cargo. More civilized than the europeans would assess, or acknowledged: civilization driven by the arts, public celebration, community. Presented as utopian in nature; edenic, golden age. [before customs and culture has loaded life with traditions, with extreme gender divisions, luxurious excess, and times of simpler pleasures and needs simplistic, uncorrupted by modern luxury] Cast as childhood memory; both narratives are posed in childlike innocence, Connects ibo culture with heroic cultures; the old testament, jews, highlanders. Shifts the debate from race to culture subversive, finding power within an existing hierarchy.
