Graduate Student, Centre for Studies in Literature
Thesis Title: Memory, Myth and Forgetting: The British Atlantic Slave Trade, 1807 and 2007
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Petra Rau
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About
My project focuses on the way the slave trade has been remembered (or forgotten) by the British since the abolition campaign of 1807, highlighted by the activities of the bicentennial commemorations of 2007. I am interested in the representations of the slave trade produced by both abolitionists and pro-slavers, and the concurrences and divergences in the resulting depictions of slaves – as well as how these representations have been either re-examined from a postcolonial standpoint, or uncritically reproduced as accurate descriptions by commemorators.
My work draws on literature, art and exhibitions for, and I am using theories of memory, multiculturalism and postcolonialism to inform my analysis.
