ABSTRACT
This international analysis of theatrical case studies illustrates the ways that theater was an arena both of protest and, simultaneously, racist and imperialist exploitations of the colonized and enslaved body.
By bringing together performances and discussions of theater culture from various colonial powers and orbits—ranging from Denmark and France to Great Britain and Brazil—this book explores the ways that slavery and hierarchical notions of "race" and "civilization" manifested around the world. At the same time, against the backdrop of colonial violence, the theater was a space that also facilitated reformist protest and served as evidence of the agency of Black people in revolt. Staging Slavery considers the implications of both white-penned productions of race and slavery performed by white actors in blackface makeup and Black counter-theater performances and productions that resisted racist structures, on and off the stage.
With unique geographical perspectives, this volume is a useful resource for undergraduates, graduates, and researchers in the history of theater, nationalism and imperialism, race and slavery, and literature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |12 pages
Framing the Stage
part I|106 pages
Slavery, Revolt, and Abolitionism
chapter 3|17 pages
The Politics of Truth-Telling
part II|91 pages
Race, Nation, and Empire
chapter 1205|20 pages
Staging Slavery “at Home”
chapter 6|27 pages
Performing The Revenge in Sydney
chapter 8|26 pages
“O Pity the Black Man, He Is Slave in Foreign Country”
part III|62 pages
Black Agency, Performance, and Counter-Theater
chapter 2129|19 pages
Slavery as Part of the Scene
chapter 10|18 pages
Counter-Voices in the Tropics
chapter 11|23 pages
Protesting Slavery, Asserting Freedom, and Defying Racism
part |26 pages
Epilogue