African-British Writings in the Eighteenth Century: The Politics of Race and ReasonThe eighteenth century was a time of great cultural change in Britain. It was a period marked by expeditions to the New World, Africa, and the Orient, and these voyages were reflected in the travel literature of the era. It was also a period in which seventeenth-century empiricism and the scientific method became dominant, and in which society became increasingly secular. Fundamental to the eighteenth-century worldview was the notion of the Great Chain of Being, in which all creatures and their Creator stood in a hierarchical relationship with one another. The years from 1660 to 1833 witnessed both Britain's participation in slavery and the appropriation of the Great Chain of Being by social anthropologists and political leaders. With the rise of the slave trade, blacks were brought to Britain against their will, where they were enslaved. At the same time, intellectuals of the period tried to place these slaves within the hierarchical frame provided by the Great Chain of Being. |
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... observes , " I suspect , Pope - as poet , critic , translator of Homer , and editor of Shakes- peare - embodies the values we have been taught to associate with the study of literature . " 15 Although Pope critically upholds the Chain's ...
... observes that the " old idea of Ham's curse floated ethereally about the [ American ] colonies without anyone's seeming to attach great importance to it " and adds that the “ Christian tradition demanded the accep- tance of Negroes in ...
... observes that only God knows " the thoughts of a slave's heart " ( 3 ) . Not only does Prince's " immorality equa- tion " include the enslaver , but it also includes hard - hearted bystanders as well . She attributes this show of ...
Contents
Enlightenment Humanism | 1 |
Perspectives on a Theological Chain | 31 |
Conclusion | 149 |
Copyright | |
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African-British Writings in the Eighteenth Century: The Politics of Race and ... Helena Woodard No preview available - 1999 |