In my previous blog post on Black History Month, I discussed
teaching black British and postcolonial literature, and using this as an
opportunity to explore elements of black histories in Britain and globally. I
also suggested that ‘texts studied such as the slave narrative connect in very
specific ways to topics treated during Black History Month.’ Let us look a little further into this
idea.
We examine black British and
postcolonial experiences on other modules that I teach, as part of our exploration
of the multiplicity of literature and identity. On my third-year module, HM6308
‘Make It New’, which examines 20TH and 21ST Century
British Literature, we study a 2003 novel written by the Scottish author James
Robertson, called Joseph Knight. This
novel treats the topic of slavery and Scotland’s historical role in
imperialism and slavery in the Caribbean. Joseph Knight is based
on the real historical figure, the slave Joseph Knight - see The Woyingi Blog, http://woyingi.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/transatlantic-lives-joseph-knight/.
For more detail on Robertson’s novel, read the Guardian
review of Robertson’s novel, written by this year’s Booker Prize nominee, the
author Ali Smith: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/jun/07/fiction.alismith She argues that: ‘Robertson handles the mystery of who Joseph
Knight really is with a subtle panache. Knight's presence and absence are both
melancholy sorts of escape; and the novel is full of people hopelessly
enslaved: slaves, colliers, spinners, women - and, more than anybody, the
imperialists themselves.’
The section called ‘History of Slavery’
on the Black History Month website http://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/
also contains information about slavery which provides an interesting context to novels such as Robertson's.
Here, it states that: ‘Scots proudly played their part in the abolition
of the trade. But for a time we misted over our role as perpetrators of this
barbarism. Many of Scottish industries, schools and churches were founded from
the profits of African slavery.’
These questions of race and narration deepen our study of
literature, and further our understanding of its resonances and relevance during black History month and beyond.
© Dr Charlotte Beyer
No comments:
Post a Comment