The Colonial Art of Demonizing Others: A Global Perspective
Focusing on the period of modern imperial consolidation (1750–1848), The Colonial Art of Demonizing Others examines European mistranslations and misrepresentations of black freedom dreams and self-activity as monstrous.
This book argues that Europe's archives of self-understanding are haunted by the traces of Black radical resistance. Just as Europe's economy came to depend upon the raw materials, markets, and labor it secured from the colonies, European culture came to be based on fantasies and phobias derived from the unruly and unmanageable aftershocks of colonial violence and counter-insurgency.
Rather than assert that European nationalist and abolitionist discourses are on the side of emancipatory movements, the book shows the limits of these discourses. It considers the more difficult and uncomfortable question of why emancipatory movements represented the struggles of anticolonial and radical blackness the way they did. The Colonial Art of Demonizing Others privileges the political reading not only of literary texts but also of historical documents and visual culture.
Contact
Contact Diane Fujino, CBSR director or Mahsheed Ayoub at 805-893-3914