Debating the Slave Trade
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A01=Srividhya Swaminathan
abolitionist
Abolitionist Rhetoric
Act Agent Ratio
African Slave Trade
anthony
Anthony Benezet
Anti-slave Trade Activists
Antislavery Activists
Antislavery Argument
antislavery pamphlets
Antislavery Publications
Antislavery Sentiment
Antislavery Writers
arguments
Author_Srividhya Swaminathan
benezet
British public opinion history
BRITISH SUGAR COLONIES
Category=DS
debates
East Indies
eighteenth-century abolitionism
English Civil Law
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
granville
Granville Sharp
imperial discourse analysis
Indies
Lord Mansfield's Decision
Lord Mansfield’s Decision
Mansfield Decision
print culture in abolition debates
proslavery
Proslavery Arguments
Proslavery Interests
proslavery rhetoric
Proslavery Writers
rhetoric
sharp
Slave Trade Debates
Slavery Advocates
transatlantic literary studies
West Indian Planters
writers
Young Man
Product details
- ISBN 9780754667674
- Weight: 635g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 11 Sep 2009
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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How did the arguments developed in the debate to abolish the slave trade help to construct a British national identity and character in the late eighteenth century? Srividhya Swaminathan examines books, pamphlets, and literary works to trace the changes in rhetorical strategies utilized by both sides of the abolitionist debate. Framing them as competing narratives engaged in defining the nature of the Briton, Swaminathan reads the arguments of pro- and anti-abolitionists as a series of dialogues among diverse groups at the center and peripheries of the empire. Arguing that neither side emerged triumphant, Swaminathan suggests that the Briton who emerged from these debates represented a synthesis of arguments, and that the debates to abolish the slave trade are marked by rhetorical transformations defining the image of the Briton as one that led naturally to nineteenth-century imperialism and a sense of global superiority. Because the slave-trade debates were waged openly in print rather than behind the closed doors of Parliament, they exerted a singular influence on the British public. At their height, between 1788 and 1793, publications numbered in the hundreds, spanned every genre, and circulated throughout the empire. Among the voices represented are writers from both sides of the Atlantic in dialogue with one another, such as key African authors like Ignatius Sancho, Phillis Wheatley, and Olaudah Equiano; West India planters and merchants; and Quaker activist Anthony Benezet. Throughout, Swaminathan offers fresh and nuanced readings that eschew the view that the abolition of the slave trade was inevitable or that the ultimate defeat of pro-slavery advocates was absolute.
Srividhya Swaminathan is Associate Professor at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, USA.
