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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Writing from the Center or the Margins? Olaudah Equiano's Writing Life Reassessed |
Author: | Earley, Samantha Manchester |
Year: | 2003 |
Periodical: | African Studies Review |
Volume: | 46 |
Issue: | 3 |
Period: | December |
Pages: | 1-16 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Subsaharan Africa Nigeria |
Subjects: | Christianity slavery autobiographies (form) History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Religion and Witchcraft |
About person: | Olaudah Equiano (ca1745-ca1797) |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1515039 |
Abstract: | This article is a literary analysis of the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (Nigeria). It was a bestseller when it was published in 1789, and in the past few years it has seen a resurgence in popularity. To date, there have been very few studies of Equiano's religious conversion and his use of religious discourse. This article discusses Equiano's use of conventions of Christian spiritual autobiography. In particular, it examines Equiano's use of multiple discursive and rhetorical strategies in order to move the self of his slave narrator from 'marginal' to 'central' status in the international debate over slavery. It focuses on Equiano's understanding of morality as a multicultural framework and his application of Christian rhetoric in explaining it. The main argument is that his search for religious understanding and his experiential knowledge allowed him to move between cultural 'centres' and cultural 'margins' while speaking with an authoritative voice against slavery. Bibliogr., notes, sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract] |