Secondary Literature Flashcards
(6 cards)
Ferguson on Aphra Behn
- Introduction: Context and Purpose
Ferguson situates Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko within 17th-century literature, examining how it establishes a paradigm for representing race, colonialism, and slavery in English literature.
She highlights Behn’s dual role—both as a female writer challenging literary norms and as a participant in colonial discourse. - Oroonoko and the Paradigm of Noble Slavery
Behn constructs Oroonoko as an African prince, drawing from European ideals of aristocracy to frame him as a noble figure.
Ferguson explores how this depiction both humanizes and exoticizes Oroonoko, reinforcing certain racial hierarchies while simultaneously critiquing slavery. - Colonialism and the Justification of Empire
Ferguson argues that Behn’s work both exposes and justifies elements of colonialism.
The novel critiques the brutality of European colonizers, yet still portrays Europe as the dominant power.
It reflects an early tension between renaissance humanism and imperial ideology. - Gender and Authorship
Behn’s status as one of the first professional female writers influences how she portrays Oroonoko.
Ferguson examines how Behn navigates male-dominated literary traditions, using Oroonoko’s story as a way to discuss both racial oppression and gendered power dynamics. - Oroonoko’s Influence on Later Literature
The novel sets a precedent for later abolitionist literature (e.g., 18th-century sentimental novels).
Ferguson discusses how Romantic writers, abolitionists, and even colonial propagandists adapted Behn’s themes. - Conclusion: The Birth of a Paradigm
Ferguson concludes that Oroonoko created a lasting framework for how race, nobility, and slavery were depicted in literature.
The novel’s contradictions—both critiquing and reinforcing colonial ideologies—became central to future literary representations of slavery.
Gautier
Summary of Gary Gautier’s Main Arguments in “Slavery and the Fashioning of Race”
Gary Gautier’s article examines how concepts of slavery, race, and class evolved in three key 18th-century texts: Oroonoko (Aphra Behn), Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe), and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (Olaudah Equiano). He argues that these texts reflect shifting ways in which race was conceptualized, particularly in relation to slavery.
Main Arguments:
1. Race and Slavery as Conceptual Shifts
Gautier critiques traditional approaches that analyze race based solely on the author’s racial identity.
Instead, he examines how race, class, and slavery are interconnected within the “conceptual space” of 18th-century British culture.
Over time, slavery became less associated with class hierarchies and more tied to race, forming modern ideas of racial superiority.
2. Behn’s Oroonoko: Slavery as a Class Issue, Not a Racial One
Behn’s novel portrays slavery as a function of class rather than race—Oroonoko is noble despite being African, while white Europeans are often shown as morally corrupt.
The novel critiques commercial slavery but not slavery itself, as it upholds an older, aristocratic form of servitude where nobility still commands respect.
Slavery is seen as “natural” within class hierarchies, but the commercial economy disrupts this order.
3. Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe: The Merging of Race and Class in Slavery
Crusoe’s interactions with Friday show a transition from class-based to race-based justifications of slavery.
Defoe critiques aristocratic class hierarchies but still maintains white superiority, suggesting racial difference as the new justification for slavery.
Friday is portrayed as both a loyal servant and a racial inferior, reinforcing a new model of domination based on racial essentialism.
4. Equiano’s Interesting Narrative: Race Becomes the Primary Justification for Slavery
Equiano’s autobiography challenges the racial logic of slavery by emphasizing a shared humanity between Africans and Europeans.
He acknowledges that Africans practiced slavery, but European commercial slavery is uniquely dehumanizing.
His narrative undermines the idea that racial difference justifies enslavement, showing instead how slavery corrupts all participants—both the enslaved and the enslavers.
5. The Long-Term Impact of These Evolving Ideas
Gautier argues that the 18th century saw the gradual replacement of class-based justifications for slavery with racial ones.
This shift helped create modern racial ideologies that persisted even after slavery was abolished.
Equiano’s work marks a turning point—it both exposes and tries to dismantle the emerging racial logic that justified slavery.
Conclusion:
Gautier’s central thesis is that slavery’s justification transformed over time—from class-based in Behn’s Oroonoko to race-based in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, and ultimately challenged in Equiano’s Interesting Narrative. He shows how these literary works not only reflect but actively shape the conceptualization of race and slavery in Western thought.
Wheeler
Summary of Roxann Wheeler’s Main Arguments in
“‘My Savage,’ ‘My Man’: Racial Multiplicity in Robinson Crusoe”
Roxann Wheeler’s article analyzes the complexities of race in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719). She argues that 18th-century ideas about race were more fluid than modern racial binaries suggest. Instead of focusing solely on a black/white dichotomy, Wheeler examines how multiple racialized categories—such as “savage,” “Christian,” and “slave”—shape colonial power relations in the novel.
Main Arguments:
1. Race in Robinson Crusoe Is More Than Just a Black/White Binary
Traditional critiques of Robinson Crusoe often reduce race to a simple opposition between white Europeans and nonwhite “others”.
However, Wheeler argues that racial categories in the early 18th century were more complex and evolving.
Terms like “savage,” “Christian,” and “slave” were as important as skin color in defining racial hierarchies.
2. The Category of “Savage” Is Fluid and Unstable
The novel portrays different degrees of “savagery” among non-Europeans.
Friday, for example, is depicted as less savage than other Caribs because of his behavior and willingness to assimilate.
The term “savage” is not always linked to skin color, as Crusoe also considers the Spanish as somewhat savage due to their colonial brutality.
3. Religion (Christianity) as a Marker of Civilization
In Robinson Crusoe, Christianity is more important than race in determining superiority.
Crusoe’s project of “civilizing” Friday is rooted in religious conversion rather than purely racial superiority.
Europeans (such as the Portuguese and Spanish) are often divided along religious lines, but united in their Christian identity against non-Christian peoples.
4. Slavery in the Novel Is Not Always Racialized
The novel depicts different forms of slavery, such as:
Crusoe himself being enslaved by Moors early in the novel.
Friday’s status as both a servant and a subordinate companion rather than a racialized slave.
Xury (a Moorish boy) being sold by Crusoe, showing that slavery was also tied to religion and class.
Slavery is thus portrayed as a social and economic system, rather than exclusively a racial one.
5. Clothing and Language as Markers of Difference
Crusoe frequently comments on Friday’s nakedness, using it as a sign of his uncivilized status.
Once Friday adopts European clothing, it symbolizes his assimilation into European norms.
Similarly, language plays a major role—Crusoe teaches Friday English, reinforcing power dynamics beyond just skin color.
Conclusion:
Wheeler’s central argument is that Robinson Crusoe does not construct race in the rigid, biological way that later colonial ideologies would. Instead, the novel reflects a time when racial categories were fluid, shifting, and based on religion, culture, and perceived “civilization” rather than just skin color. The novel both reinforces and complicates colonial racial hierarchies, showing how race was being “fashioned” in early British imperial discourse.
Eckstein
In the excerpt, Eckstein (2006) introduces the core concepts that will be used in the book to examine the ways in which black Atlantic literature engages with and remembers the past. She begins by examining and critiquing previous work that has attempted to describe the relationship between literature and memory. Eckstein identifies three aspects of dialogism (the dialogic nature of written works) that can be used to describe how literature engages with the past: ontological, descriptive, and functional. The ontological aspect relates to the way in which any text is always part of and in dialogue with a wider cultural context. The descriptive aspect refers to the ways in which authors make use of and transform previous texts and cultural artifacts in their work. The functional aspect describes the relation between the text and its cultural context, or how lived experience is transformed and represented in the text.
Eckstein argues that previous researchers have overemphasized the ontological aspect at the expense of the others, leading to an understanding of memory in literature that does not account for history, instead lumping everything into a kind of universal cultural memory. In contrast, she advocates for an approach that also takes into account the descriptive and functional aspects, allowing for an analysis of the specific ways in which authors draw on existing sources and lived experience in the creation of literature.
Neumann
In this article, Neumann (2016) analyzes the ways in which the narrative of Olaudah Equiano, a formerly enslaved man, utilizes and subverts discourses prevalent in the Enlightenment. She begins by outlining how the universalizing and totalizing tendencies of Enlightenment thought were used to justify the subjugation and ill treatment of Black Africans, as seen in the work of thinkers such as Hegel and Kant. However, the Enlightenment project also provided counter-narratives that emphasized the equality and humanity of all people, regardless of origin.
Olaudah Equiano’s narrative draws on this second aspect of the Enlightenment, emphasizing his personal intellectual development and conversion to Christianity. However, it also undermines the stability and coherence of the Enlightenment as a cultural and historical project. Through his narrative, Equiano is able to write himself into being acknowledged as a subject and thus to assert his agency. This “in-between” allows for the possibility of alternative, non-Eurocentric forms of Enlightenment. Neumann concludes by arguing that any critical project that seeks to engage with the Enlightenment must reckon with the paradoxes of the Enlightenment as a whole.
Youngblood
Youngblood examines the role of intercession in Olaudah Equiano’s “Interesting Narrative.” She argues that intercession, or acting on behalf of another, is crucial both to the text’s existence and its content. The narrative is framed by authenticating documents that vouch for Equiano’s credibility. Within the narrative, Equiano’s freedom and self-representation are facilitated by others speaking on his behalf. Youngblood connects this to the importance of reading and writing in Equiano’s self-fashioning. She concludes that the text’s ability to be read relies on intercession both within and outside the narrative.
