Discussions of the representation of slavery are always caught in a tension between, on the one hand, maintaining the gravity of the realities faced by the enslaved — including dehumanisation, dispossession, and even social death — and, on the other hand, acknowledging the agency of enslaved people: their small acts of resistance, their use of the limited spaces left for human expression, and the large-scale revolts they organised.

In this seminar, we will explore this space between these poles, examining both the possibilities for creative and meaningful life within an exploitative system and the ways in which acts of resistance could, paradoxically, be appropriated to reinforce that very system.  The discussions will be based on readings of texts from the 18th and 19th century.

The seminar will consist of three short presentations followed by a joint discussion:

Enit Karafili Steiner. University of Lausanne
Poetics of Dispossession in the Transatlantic Slavery, 1789-1863

Stephanie Volder, Linacre College, University of Oxford
Entangled Islands: Imagining the End of Slavery in Jamaica Through the Trope of the Haitian Revolution, 1791-1834

Jonas Ross Kjærgaard, Aahus University
The Non-Recognition of Independence: Imagining Haiti in the Literature of the Age of Revolution

If you are interested in attending please send an email to madsbaggesgaard@cc.au.dk