Abina and the Important Men is a compelling and powerfully illustrated "graphic history" based on an 1876 court transcript of a West African woman named Abina, who was wrongfully enslaved and took her case to court. The book is a microhistory that does much more than simply depict an event in the past; it uses the power of illustration to convey important themes in world history and toreveal the processes by which history is made. Abina and the Important Men isa compelling and powerfully illustrated "graphic history" based on an 1876 court transcript of a West African woman named Abina, who was wrongfully enslaved and took her case to court. The book is a microhistory that does much more than simply depict an event in the past; it uses the power of illustration to convey important themes in world history and to reveal the processes by which history is made. The story of Abina Mansah--a woman "without history" who was wrongfully enslaved, escaped to British-controlled territory, and then took her former master to court--takes place in the complex world of the Gold Coast at the onset oflate nineteenth-century colonialism. Slavery becomes a contested ground, as cultural practices collide with an emerging wage economy and British officials turn a blind eye to the presence of underpaid domestic workers in the households of African merchants. INDICE: Table of Contents Part I: The graphic history Part II: The transcript Part III: Historical context The Gold Coast, c.1876 The British CivilizingMission The Civilizing Mission in the Gold Coast Slavery in the Gold Coast The Atlantic Slave Trade and Abolition Abina Mansah and the Important Men Part IV: Reading guide Whose Story is This? Level One: A staircase of voices Level 2: Silences Level 3: Representation and Translation Is this a <"true>" story? Level 1: Reconstructing Abina's story Level 2: Deconstructing the courtroom transcript Level 3: Reconstructing Abina's <"truths>" or constructingour own? Is this <"authentic>" history? Level 1: Local forms of history-telling Level 2: The personal and the collective authentic Level 3: History as a forum or a temple Part IV: Abina in the classroom Abina for the world history classroom Abina for the African history/African studies classroom Abina and colonialism Abina and the history of slavery Gendering Abina's story Readingquestions Introductory questions, for students at all levels Questions for students at the university or college level Additional questions for advanced undergraduate and graduate students Timeline of Events Further Resources Abina Mansah Slavery and Abolition on the Gold Coast About Colonialism and the Gold Coast General histories of Africa Imperialism and Colonialism Gender and African History Web Resources Glossary List of maps and images 1) Location of Gold Coast, 16th-18th century 2) Language distribution in Ghana today 3) Asante c. 1700 4) Asante and the Gold Coast in the 1870s, showing sites of Abina Mansah'senslavement 5) Page of transcript from Regina v. Quamina Eddoo Further readings
- ISBN: 978-0-19-984439-5
- Editorial: Oxford University
- Encuadernacion: Rústica
- Páginas: 208
- Fecha Publicación: 16/02/2012
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés