Joseph Conrads Critique mentions African Cannibals The Proposed

Joseph Conrad’s Critique mentions African Cannibals

The Proposed Hierarchy of Mankind Illustration from Types of Mankind (1854), written by prominent ethnologists Josiah Clark Nott (18041873) and George R. Glidden (1809 -1857). The book's theory was to prove that the African race as wholly separate from the Caucasian, or white, race. The book was embraced by slavery sympathizers as scientific proof that the African race was inferior.

Evolutionary Demotion Leads to Inhumanity

The British Perfect the Spanish Practice The study of British colonial propaganda is instructive. What can be more effective, while preparing an aggressive war, than to proclaim the purity of one’s intentions and sanctity of one’s cause, while ascribing atrocities or heathenism to the enemy? Throughout history, the enemies of the British Empire, portrayed as aggressors, cruel, inhuman and often heathen were annihilated while the British preserved their image of a caring, ‘gentlemanly’ nation. By mastering the art of negative attributions, Great Britain started more wars than any other nation resulting in the deaths of millions of people, subjugated millions of others by sanctioning piracy, the drug trade, the slave trade, and yet, maintained an image of a cultured nation.

Anglo-Normans had justified their wars of conquest by denigrating the Irish over successive centuries: In 1183 a monk named Giraldus Cambrensis, a member of one of the main Norman families colonizing Ireland, wrote a book entitled The History and Topography of Ireland. It was a work of fiction designed to justify the Norman Conquest in Ireland. Accordingly, Cambrensis accused the Irish of various vices, including laziness, treachery, blasphemy, idolatry, ignorance of Christian beliefs, incest and cannibalism.

Accusations of Cannabilism

Accusation of Canibalism Throughout history, accusations of atrocities have been one of the most effective tools of attitude change and have often preceded hostilities between people or nations. A prototypical form of atrocity attribution is the accusation of cannibalism. The term cannibal was coined during Columbus’ times after the name of Caribs, a West Indian tribe with a reputation for eating their enemies. Following Columbus’ discoveries, the Spanish monarchy adopted a policy prohibiting the enslavement of natives in the new territories. However, the royal mandate for the West Indies contained a clause excluding cannibals from royal protection. Repeatedly, this clause was invoked to derive an economic advantage from human bondage.

19 th Century Maritime Commerce in the Caribbean

Slave Sale, Richmond, Virginia, 1861

Sugar Boiling House, Cuba, ca. 1850

Sugar Boiling House/Refinery, Martinique, 1835

Sugar Cane Cultivation, Antigua, West Indies, 1823

Working in Sugar Cane Fields, 19 th cent. West Indies

Manioc (Cassava) Processing, Brazil, 19 th cent.

Rum Distillery, Antigua, West Indies, 1823

Cotton Gin, U. S. South, 1860 s

Tobacco Production, French West Indies, early 18 th cent.

Cattle-Driven Sugar Mill, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1798

• Indigo Production, South Carolina, 1757

Indigo Manufacture, French West Indies, 18 th cent.

Weeding Rice Field, U. S. South, 19 th cent

Turpentine Making, North Carolina, 1855

Sponge Fishermen and Houses, Cuba, ca. 1850

Carters, Paramaribo, Surinam, 1839

Hauling a Loaded Truck, Brazil, 1853

Porters Carrying Coffee, Brazil, 1853

• Diamond Mining, Brazil, ca. 1770 s

Sawing Wood Planks, Brazil, 1816 -1831

Shoemaker and Assistants, Brazil, 1816 -1831

Gold Production, Colombia, 1826

1791 Slaves and Free Blacks Revolt

Toussaint L’Ouverture Leader of the Haitian Rvolution

Louisanna Purchase of 1803

St. Domingue proposed as home for deported slaves and free blacks "West Indies offer a more probable & practicable retreat for them. . . the most promising portion of them is the island of St. Domingo, where the blacks are established into a sovereignty de facto, & have organised themselves under regular laws & government. “ He was searching for a suitable place to send rebellious slaves in the aftermath of Gabriel's Rebellion in Virginia.

1790 Naturalization Law limited citizenship to immigrants who were “foreign whites”. 1792 enlistment in militias was limited to white men. States in the NW Territory placed special restrictions and requirements on Blacks who entered.

Mother Bethel -1795 1 st Black Sunday School -1807 Free People of Color School

• Racial stereotypes during the antebellum period were rampant. • The sambo caricature was the most persistent of Black males. • Based on white chauvanistic ideas of superiority and the view of Negroes as the extreme “other”

• Sambo and Uncle • Big Smile: happy to Serve • Uniform: proud of subservient role • Speech: creolized English, viewed as indicative of lack of intelligence