Representing Slavery

Examines representations of the Atlantic slave trade in scholarship, literature, film, popular culture, and local site visits. We will examine portrayals of people who were enslaved, people who enslaved, as well as the nature of capture, the Middle Passage, and plantation life. We will also explore contemporary commemorations of the slave trade within museums, and the political mobilization of this history within the reparations movement. Through an examination of these materials, we will ask 'why represent slavery?' and 'what is at stake when representing slavery?'