Overview

Spectres from the Past: The ""History"" of Slavery in West African and African-American Narratives examines the merit of the claim that West African writers, in comparison to African-Americans authors, deliberately expunge the history of slavery from literary narratives. The book explores slavery in contemporary West African and African-American literature by looking at the politics of history and memory. It interrogates notions of History and memory by considering the possibility that shared traumas, such as West African and African-American experiences of slavery, can be remembered and historicised differently, according to critical factors such as socio-economic realities, cultural beliefs and familial traditions. At the heart of the book are compelling and new readings of slavery in six literary narratives that draws on cultural philosophies, musicology and linguistics to demonstrate diverse and unusual ways that Black writers in West Africa and North America write about slavery in literature.

Full Product Details

Author:   Portia Owusu
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.453kg
ISBN:  

9780367819897

ISBN 10:   0367819899
Pages:   142
Publication Date:   27 November 2019
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Evoking Spectres in History. Chapter 1: Literary Archaeology: The Uncovering and Recovering of Historical Memory in Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Chapter 2: Articulating ‘Silence’: The Language of Death as Memory in Ama Ata Aidoo’s The Dilemma of a Ghost. Chapter 3: Bloodlines and Blurred lines: Contested Memories and Freedom in Barbara Chase-Riboud’s Sally Hemings. Chapter 4: The Limitations of ‘History’: Chika Ezeanya’s Re-visioning of the Early Years of Olaudah Equiano and Slavery in Before We Set Sail. Chapter 5: Wreckages of History: The Past as Ongoing in Amiri Baraka’s Slave Ship: A Historical Pageant. Chapter 6: The Magic of ‘History’ and Contradictions of ‘Return’ to the M(other) land in Syl Cheney-Coker’s The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar. Conclusion: Defining Silences.

Reviews

Author Information

Portia Owusu is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Texas A&M University. Her research interests include history and memory, cultural philosophy and literature and West African and African-American contemporary narratives. She received her PhD in 2017 in Africana Literature at the SOAS, University of London.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions