Introduction
-
Eleanor Bird
Abstract
The Introduction explores the construction of Canada as an antislavery haven within nineteenth-century literature, and sets out the book’s aim to get beyond the dominant narrative of Canada as an antislavery utopia to come to a more complicated account of Canada’s relationship with slavery and freedom. It situates the book within recent scholarship that has sought to unsettle the idealised narrative of Canada-as-haven. It sets out a new model for understanding Canada’s relationship with slavery and freedom in transatlantic print culture by reading newspapers and slave narratives holistically, provides an overview of the context of historical slavery in Canada, and suggests ways that Canada’s printed accounts of slavery and freedom were both connected to the wider Black Atlantic and had three key differences.
Abstract
The Introduction explores the construction of Canada as an antislavery haven within nineteenth-century literature, and sets out the book’s aim to get beyond the dominant narrative of Canada as an antislavery utopia to come to a more complicated account of Canada’s relationship with slavery and freedom. It situates the book within recent scholarship that has sought to unsettle the idealised narrative of Canada-as-haven. It sets out a new model for understanding Canada’s relationship with slavery and freedom in transatlantic print culture by reading newspapers and slave narratives holistically, provides an overview of the context of historical slavery in Canada, and suggests ways that Canada’s printed accounts of slavery and freedom were both connected to the wider Black Atlantic and had three key differences.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Figures vi
- Acknowledgements viii
- Introduction 1
- 1 The representation of slavery in Quebec’s newspapers, 1789–93 25
- 2 Canada in the antebellum slave narrative, 1849–57 59
- 3 Thomas Jones in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 93
- 4 Broken Shackles 129
- Conclusion 160
- Bibliography 165
- Index 183
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Figures vi
- Acknowledgements viii
- Introduction 1
- 1 The representation of slavery in Quebec’s newspapers, 1789–93 25
- 2 Canada in the antebellum slave narrative, 1849–57 59
- 3 Thomas Jones in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 93
- 4 Broken Shackles 129
- Conclusion 160
- Bibliography 165
- Index 183
