I aim to explore the question of American slavery in the mid 19th century by looking through literary, legal, and post-colonial lenses in an effort to show how abolition-era literary narratives utilize stereotype to reproduce a racist discourse and, further, how legal documents and actions reduce the slave to 'homo sacer' through a state of exception, ultimately making the slave the subject of legitimized sovereign violence.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is an anti-slavery, abolition-era narrative detailing the lives of a black slave family in the south. Though written with good intentions and anti-slavery sentiments, Stowe deploys a hegemonic ideology by confining slaves to their stereotypic bounds—lamenting slavery while utilizing a typical, Africanist-African-American depiction of slaves. Stowe reproduces a racist discourse by constructing stereotypical characterizations of black slaves; specifically their appearance and how they behave in comparison to their white counterparts.
Table of Contents
1. Sovereignty and Post-Coloniality: The Reproduction of Hegemonic Discourse and Legitimization of Sovereign Violence Against the American Slave
Target and Research Objectives
The primary objective of this work is to explore the systemic reproduction of racist discourse and the legal mechanisms that rendered the American slave a homo sacer in the mid-19th century, ultimately justifying sovereign violence through a state of exception.
- Analysis of abolitionist literature and its reliance on colonial stereotypes.
- Examination of the "homo sacer" concept within 19th-century American legal frameworks.
- Investigation into how the Fugitive Slave Act and Dred Scott v. Sandford stripped slaves of citizenship.
- Critique of the paradoxical nature of slavery as a paternalistic institution versus its reality as an instrument of state violence.
Excerpt from the Book
Sovereignty and Post-Coloniality: The Reproduction of Hegemonic Discourse and Legitimization of Sovereign Violence Against the American Slave
I aim to explore the question of American slavery in the mid 19th century by looking through literary, legal, and post-colonial lenses in effort to show how abolition-era literary narratives utilize stereotype to reproduce a racist discourse and, further, how legal documents and actions reduce the slave to homo sacer through a state of exception, ultimately making the slave the subject of legitimized sovereign violence.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is an anti-slavery, abolition-era narrative detailing the lives of a black slave family in the south. Though written with good intentions and anti-slavery sentiments, Stowe deploys a hegemonic ideology by confining slaves to their stereotypic bounds—lamenting slavery while utilizing a typical, Africanist-African-American depiction of slaves. Stowe reproduces a racist discourse by constructing stereotypical characterizations of black slaves; specifically their appearance and how they behave in comparison to their white counterparts.
Chapter Summary
Sovereignty and Post-Coloniality: The Reproduction of Hegemonic Discourse and Legitimization of Sovereign Violence Against the American Slave: This chapter analyzes how 19th-century literature and legal documents constructed a state of exception for enslaved people, effectively dehumanizing them to justify systemic violence.
Keywords
Sovereignty, Post-Colonialism, American Slavery, Hegemonic Discourse, Homo Sacer, State of Exception, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Homi Bhabha, Stereotype, Fugitive Slave Act, Dred Scott, Giorgio Agamben, Racial Hierarchy, Sovereign Violence
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental focus of this publication?
The work examines how 19th-century American slavery was sustained through both literary stereotyping and the juridico-political creation of a "state of exception" that excluded the enslaved from legal protections.
What are the primary thematic fields covered?
The themes include post-colonial literary analysis, the political philosophy of sovereignty, the legal history of the mid-19th century, and the critical study of abolitionist and pro-slavery narratives.
What is the central research question?
The research explores how the American slave was reduced to the status of "homo sacer," a being excluded from the legal order yet subject to the sovereign power of the state.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The author utilizes a multidisciplinary framework, combining literary criticism, post-colonial theory (specifically Homi Bhabha's work on colonial discourse), and political philosophy (Giorgio Agamben’s theory of the state of exception).
What topics are discussed in the main body?
The main body treats the reproduction of racist tropes in Harriet Beecher Stowe's literature, the comparative analysis of "Anti-Tom" plantation fiction, and the legal implications of the Fugitive Slave Act and the Dred Scott ruling.
Which specific terms define this research?
Key terms include "homo sacer," "fixity," "hauntological construct," "sovereign violence," and "hegemonic discourse."
How does the author interpret the role of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"?
The author argues that while the novel is abolitionist in intent, it paradoxically reinforces racist hegemony by relying on essentialist stereotypes of Black people that mimic the very systems it seeks to oppose.
What is the significance of the "homo sacer" concept in this context?
It highlights the legal status of the slave as someone who, while considered "property" and thus within the purview of the state, was simultaneously denied citizenship and humanity, rendering them vulnerable to state-sanctioned violence.
- Quote paper
- Lena Dassonville (Author), 2016, Sovereignty and Post-Coloniality. The Reproduction of Hegemonic Discourse and Legitimization of Sovereign Violence Against the American Slave, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/346600
