English Literature and Slavery 1772-1834

In the light of the growing globalisation of our world and the formation of multicultural societies that are now the rule rather than the exception, the study of colonial and postcolonial literature in English is an area whose importance is constantly increasing. This field as well as the application of a `postcolonial` methodology to the study of traditional British literature dominates research at the English Department of Innsbruck University. This project is directly related to this research emphasis. Literature about slavery in general and the abolition of slavery in particular is enjoying considerable critical interest today and will also form the central focus of this project, which deals with Great Britain`s output of texts on slavery around central key-dates in the `abolitionist` period (1772, 1787, 1807 and 1834), i.e. works that were written about, in support of, or against slavery revolving around these dates. These texts, which include both literary works (novels, plays, and poems), and non-fictional texts (parliamentary debates, newspaper articles, pamphlets, essays) shall be dealt with and analysed in regard to their treatment of the subject. The dominant paradigms in the argumentation both pro- and anti-slavery will be identified, trying to answer the questions of how the paradigm shift came about and the new paradigm of anti-slavery was established. It will be attempted to identify and distinguish between the main argumentative strands and literary as well as rhetorical strategies employed in the texts. The texts will be critically examined by applying the methodology of critical discourse analysis informed by aspects of deconstructive postcolonial reading practices in order to identify the paradigmatic changes of images, attitudes, startegies, and terminology over the period. The project will aim at embedding the texts into their historical contexts, on the one hand, but it will also stress the present relevance of the topic by applying postcolonial reading practices .

The project English Literature and Slavery 1772-1834: From the Beginning of the Abolitionist Movement to the Abolition of Slavery was devoted to the study of paradigmatic changes in the discussion on slavery during the abolition debate in Britain from 1772-1834. It focussed on the use of discursive arguments - the racial/ethnic, religious, economic, legal/human rights, moral/humanitarian, historical and national argument - in key texts of the abolition debate. After a first analysis of literary texts from different genres (poetry, fiction, drama) the corpus had to be narrowed down placing special emphasis on the argumentation in parliamentary debates (Hansard), a daily newspaper (The Times), and two monthly magazines (The Gentleman`s Magazine and The Monthly Review); a `closed` set of texts that was perceived conducive in pinpointing the paradigmatic changes in the discourse of slavery. Furthermore, this change of focus was also undertaken in order to be able to scrutinise the public reaction to the issue of abolition for which parliamentary debates, newspapers, and periodicals are an invaluable source offering insights into contemporary public opinion and political reasoning. Our analysis has revealed the centrality of the racist/ethnocentric parameter in the pro- and antislavery controversy and thus uncovered a dominant pejorative outlook regarding Africa(ns) in the British discourse of slavery. This is reflected in the fact that in the year of the abolition of slavery the two rhetorical arguments that found the least consent among both parties was the one highlighting the equal humanity of Africans (humanitarian argument) and the one referring to the profitability of slavery most often voiced in connection with a prejudiced stance about enslaved African`s willingness to work for wages rather than being forced to do so by the whip (economic argument). In this it becomes clear that, to some extent even abolitionists were not certain whether their actions were to affect Britain positively or not. Similarly, abolitionists were undecided in whether the abolition of slavery would ultimately benefit enslaved Africans or not, as this depended largely on how far the relationship between colonial masters and slaves was deemed worth changing by both parties in a volatile relationship based on a combination of mutual prejudice and fear. In addition, we found out that all argumentative categories were used by both parties and twisted considerably in order to fit their purpose and line of argumentation. What is more, contrary to common belief the religious argument was concluded to have been of only minor importance, despite the predominantly Protestant/Dissenter background of (early) abolitionists. In line with the relative dominance of discursive parameters used in the debate, the final abolition of the slave trade appears to have been based not so much on an improved and changed perception of the humanity of (enslaved) Africans, but it seems rather to have been driven by a change in understanding of how best to exploit their work potential for economic ends in line with new concepts of liberty and humanity; according to a `new` and `modern` mode of production presently criticised as `capitalism` which for the first time found vociferous support in the debate of the abolition of British (colonial) slavery.