A sailor’s kin: Faith, sexuality, and antislavery, 1840–1856

John Saillant
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Abstract

ABSTRACT An 1856 Black-authored autobiography, The Life of John Thompson, made significant advances in the genre of the American slave narrative. A runaway slave, whaler, folk theologian, and, ultimately, abolitionist author, Thompson expressed sympathy for a queer man trapped in slavery and sold away from the family and friends, almost certainly for purposes of sexual abuse by white men. Moreover, Thompson narrated a religious journey beginning with traditional Christianity and ending in a Christian-inflected form of free thought. These were both new in the slave narrative. However, Thompson expressed animus against Islam as well as against aristocrats, both of whom he understood as enforcing oppression. These were not new in American thought and they kept his text securely in American traditions. Insights from queer theory, kinship studies, oceanic studies, and the history of religion are used to illuminate Thompson’s work.
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水手亲属:信仰、性和反奴隶制,1840–1856
1856年,布莱克撰写的自传《约翰·汤普森的一生》在美国奴隶叙事流派中取得了重大进展。作为一名逃跑的奴隶、捕鲸者、民间神学家,以及最终成为废奴主义者的作家,汤普森对一名被困在奴隶制中的同性恋男子表示同情,并被从家人和朋友身边卖掉,几乎可以肯定,这是为了被白人男子性虐待。此外,汤普森讲述了一段宗教之旅,从传统基督教开始,以基督教的自由思想形式结束。这在奴隶叙事中都是新的。然而,汤普森表达了对伊斯兰教和贵族的敌意,他认为这两者都在实施压迫。这些在美国人的思想中并不新鲜,它们使他的文章牢牢地保留在美国的传统中。来自酷儿理论、亲属关系研究、海洋研究和宗教史的见解被用来阐明汤普森的作品。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.60
自引率
25.00%
发文量
18
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