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Thumper
Veteran Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 698
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 03:28 am: | 
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Hello All,
Since I'm on the history kick now. I stumbled across a book that I set aside to read: Equiano, the African by Vincent Carretta. I have never heard of Equiano aka Olaudah Equiano (c.1745-1797). Have any of you heard tell of Equiano? |
Steve_s
Veteran Poster
Username: Steve_s
Post Number: 408
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 02:46 pm: |
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I haven't read more than a few pages of Equiano's (also known as Gustavus Vassa, I believe) The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789), but I know that it's considered "one of the diaspora's founding texts and one of the most important anti-slavery tracts ever written," according to Louis Chude-Sokei in his must-read book about Bert Williams, the Harlem Renaissance, modernism, intra-racial masking, and "cross-cultural soundings."
Chude-Sokei mentions Vincent Carretta's 1995 edition of Equiano's narrative (though not Carretta's biography) in that context, involving the minor controversy that attended the publication of Equiano's narrative and its "authenticity."
Although in his 1967 edition Paul Edwards quickly dismissed the controversy as a ploy of those hostile to abolition (which it more than likely was), Vincent Carretta in his 1995 edition prefaced the manuscript with the controversy. Carretta does not dwell on it, does not explore the matter beyond the conclusions made by Edwards and emphasized by Equiano himself. Yet the controversy is of increasing importance to contemporary discourse because it suggests that the authority of Equiano's narrative, that the force of his anti-slavery polemic, could be undone by the allegation of a black-on-black masquerade.
Here's one link to Chude-Sokei's book, though maybe not the best, that I chose because it contains a description of its thesis:
http://www.nathanielturner.com/lastdarkybertwilliams.htm |
Soul_sister
Regular Poster
Username: Soul_sister
Post Number: 85
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 02:59 pm: |
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Hey Y'all,
Glad to know that we are being nostalgic -- I love history. Yes, I have heard of Equiano aka Vassa - there was a big bruhaha about him in the academy about 3-5 years back about his story not being authentic and possibly written by someone who had not "lived" the adventures he writes about. That is what historians do - fight about things we cannot change in the past -- Alas, it is a living - I could only scrounge up one article from an academic journal and am looking for others which, in my opinion, should make every Black reader cleave to historical works more dearly - and ultimately, make us hunger and thirst after the truth - peace
Soul Sister
citation:
A Metaphor for Freedom: Olaudah Equiano and Slavery in Africa
by Louise Rolingher
Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, Vol. 38, No. 1 (2004), pp. 88-122
Published by: Canadian Association of African Studies |
Steve_s
Veteran Poster
Username: Steve_s
Post Number: 409
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 04:20 pm: |
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The Chude-Sokei book, published in 2006, was a finalist for the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, which is why I read it, and is not part of any academic brouhaha relating to the historical authenticity of Equiano's narrative, which is not being questioned.
And as far as I can tell, neither does the 1967 Paul Edwards edition of the narrative referred to in the excerpt I posted, address any contemporaneous challenge by academics as to the narrative's historical provenance. As Chude-Sokei writes, in 1967 Edwards addressed - and dismissed - charges made against Equiano that appeared in a publication called The Oracle on April 25, 1792, that he was not a native African, but was born on the Danish island of Santa Cruz in the West Indies.
"The story was reported in the Star two days later. However, Equiano was able to produce evidence of his African origins, and the editor of The Star apologized, admitting that the story must have been a fabrication of the enemies of abolition who would do anything to weaken the force of arguments against the slave trade." (Paul Edwards, Equiano's Travels)
There is no one who here who isn't aware of "authenticity" used with other connotations in this culture.
Here's an outside the box way of looking at the problem. Toni Morrison's new novel received two glowing reviews in the NY Times and was chosen by their editors as one of the five best works of fiction of 2008. And yet, almost unbelievably, one of those reviews was posted on a thread here as evidence that the reviewer did not like the book. There was even a meeting of the minds by a reader who responded to the post, who rationalized the review as "not everyone like Ms. Morrison" (my paraphrase). |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 13157
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 04:39 pm: |
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We know that Alex Haley was eventually outed by those who said "Roots" was mostly a concoction of his imagination, and "The Willie Lynch Letter" has also been labeled as a fraud. But authentic or not, these works are the stuff of myth and legend, and myths and legends are important to the cultures they are indigenous to.
I love history, too, whether it is documented in a volume or embedded in fiction. Just as long as it is about an interesting era. I am currently fascinated with The Tudor peerage in English history particularly that involving Henry the VIII. All the intrigue centered around him and his 6 wives and his feud with the Catholic church, rivals any TV soap opera.
And of course I relish everything pertaining to the Harlem Renassiance as well as the first great migration of slave descendants to the northern metropolises beginning in the early 1900s. |
Thumper
Veteran Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 702
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 07:48 pm: |
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Hello All,
Soul Sister: hey, what's up! I agree that we all should be more hungry about reading our history. I'll be the first one to say that I haven't been up on it like I should, but there is time to change. I believe that more history would be read if historians pay more heed to the STORY part of history. If historians saw themselves as storytellers as well, I believe that reading history would be more enjoyable, thereby more people reading it.
I wasn't aware of the controversy. My interest is not peeked.
Thanks for the replies. Hmmm, I might have to check out this biography then and pick up Equino's narrative. |
Soul_sister
Regular Poster
Username: Soul_sister
Post Number: 86
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 04, 2008 - 04:12 pm: |
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Hey Thumper,
I totally agree - historians deliberately write to exclude non-historians - its control of information - however, there are some other humanities fields that are picking up the ball - I just finished reading - To the Left of Marx by Carole Boyce Davies - it is a great historical work - written in lyrical proses about Claudia Jones an West Indian, American Communist, newspaper woman activist - great read --
I hope that as readers with varying appetites we will break down the hegmony that "academics" build around their subject matters, the information and the research - peace
Soul Sister |
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