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The free slave paradox

  • Zea Miller EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: March 12, 2016

Abstract

To the extent that “runaway slave” and “free slave” express the same content, yet one is readily understood and the other is not, the difference exposes a cultural blindness to some of the outdated ways in which oppressive language still operates. This article processes the expression “runaway slave” through several semiotic models to examine its structural incoherence and then explores the ways in which it is paradoxically understood, even so, as functions of racist cognitive frames issuing from white investments in the language. By exposing how the expression presents interdisciplinary issues, the article thereby advances an argument against its unexamined use and proposes an alternative.

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Published Online: 2016-3-12
Published in Print: 2016-5-1

©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton

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