ENG 730X: Seminar in English Literature, Literature and History
Race, Slavery and the British Empire Pre and Post-Abolition
Online Synchronous, Fridays 3:15-5:45
Required Texts:
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko (1688)
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (1719)
Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative (1789)
Lenora Sansay, Secret History: or, The Horrors of St. Domingo (1808)
Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince (1831)
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (1847)
Mary Seacole, The Wonderful Adventures of Mary Seacole in Many Lands (1857)
Olive Schreiner, The Story of an African Farm (1883)
Marlon James, The Book of Night Women (2009)
- NourbeSe Philip, Zong! (2011)
Course Description:
Race, Slavery and the British Empire Pre and Post-Abolition
This course examines connections between British slavery and empire, and pays special attention to how constructions of race emerge within this cultural history. We’ll read a wide range of literary texts from 1688 through 2011, such as novels, slave narratives, memoir, and poetry; non-fiction primary texts from the 18th and 19th centuries; and a range of contemporary theory and criticism, most especially that emerging out of Black Studies (such as Alexander Weheliye, Christina Sharpe, Zakiyyah Jackson, and Saidiya Hartman). We will discuss historical topics such as slavery in the British colonies, especially as it relates to the rise of the novel, abolition and slave narratives, slave revolts, and the rise of British empire, with an eye toward how history informs the work we do as scholars. More theoretically, we will examine constructions of race, especially as they emerge across multiple discourses; what it means to be human and what kind of forms dehumanization takes; the limits of the archive and attempts to imagine what was left out; Western humanism and its limitations; how the “Anthropocene” emerged out of slavery and colonialism; the roots of slavery within colonial contexts; the afterlives of slavery; gender within the contexts of slavery and empire, and how literary texts worked to both reinforce and challenge white supremacy and anti-blackness.
We will begin the course with an overview of recent work in Black Studies, read alongside formative delineations of racial categories from the 18th and 19th century. After looking at two canonical British novels (Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe), which deal heavily with both slavery and colonialism, we will look at a wide array of cultural texts produced during the British abolition movement (roughly 1780-1838). Not only will we read formative texts that helped end slavery and the slave trade, such as the slave narratives by Olaudah Equiano and Mary Prince, selections from abolitionist pamphlets, and anti-slavery poetry, but we’ll also read current texts such as M. NourbeSe Philips’s Zong!, and contemporary criticism on our texts. In this section we’ll also read one American novel, Lenora Sansay’s Secret History, to think about slave revolutions in a trans-Atlantic context.
We will spend the final third of the semester within the field of Victorian Studies (1837-1901), and will examine and follow calls to “Undiscipline” the field. Through reading a selection of canonical and “newly” canonical texts, alongside criticism by mostly scholars of color, we will not only think about how the legacies of slavery are related to Victorian empire post-abolition, but will more so consider how to read these texts within a diverse, globalized world-view that destabilizes the primary of whiteness. Many of our readings for this section will include articles from the recent special issue of Victorian Studies on “Undisciplining Victorian Studies” (2020), which will give students a good overview of very recent and relevant debates within Victorian Studies. Finally, we will end the semester with contemporary Jamaican author Marlon James’s The Book of Night Women (2009), set during the time of British Slavery, in order to think about how contemporary Black writers are filling in the gaps left by a white archive.
This course will be useful for those with the following interests (but not limited to): race, racism, and indigeneity; histories of slavery and colonialism; post-colonial studies; Black studies; the rise of the Western novel; 18th and 19th century literature, and cultural studies.
Student Learning Outcomes
Gain an understanding of a specific historical context (British slavery and empire),
through reading both primary and critical texts on the subject
Gain knowledge of the formation of the Western novel within a specific historical context
Read and analyze a wide variety of primary texts from multiple discourses
Become familiar with a contemporary theoretical framework (Black Studies), and
practice applying this theoretical framework to primary texts
Become familiar with contemporary debates within a specific field (i.e., Victorian
Studies)
Practice demonstrating advanced critical analysis in both written and oral formats
Practice researching primary materials through online databases
Be able to put other areas in conversation with your own specific research interests
Assignments
Weekly reading responses and discussion questions, posted to Laulima
Protocols (1-2, depending on class size). A protocol is where you take class notes and
then write them up in narrative form. They will then be presented to the class during our next meeting.
Conference paper (8-10 pages), to be presented to the class (this assignment may be
slightly revised depending on our class size)
Final research project