Dear Arthur,
Thanks for this. I use Equiano in teaching and touch on whether he was African and whether it matters in the context of the book and its impact, so was really interesting to hear this.
That's why I love this group.
Best wishes for new year and
Kind regards,
Nelson
--
Nelson Chris Mundell
PhD Candidate and Research Assistant
History, School of Humanities
University of Glasgow
'Runaway Slaves in Britain: Bondage, Race and Freedom in the Eighteenth Century'
Twitter: @NelsonHistory
Personal blog: www.peculiaritiesinthepress.wordpress.com/
--
________________________________________
From: The Black and Asian Studies Association [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of arthur torrington [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 26 December 2017 10:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: NEW (2018) BOOK ON OLAUDAH EQUIANO'S THE INTERESTING NARRATIVE
I should have written:
Blumenbach said he knew Gustavus Vassa, ...
________________________________
From: arthur torrington <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 26 December 2017 10:24
To: BASA
Subject: NEW (2018) BOOK ON OLAUDAH EQUIANO'S THE INTERESTING NARRATIVE
Professor Brycchan Carey’s edition of Equiano’s THE INTERESTING NARRATIVE is being published by Oxford University Press on 11 January 2018 and the contents add to the volume of knowledge about Gustavus Vassa ‘The African’. I recommend the book to everyone.
But, Professor Carey’s INTRODUCTION to the book includes a section titled, ‘The Birthplace Controversy’, and he repeats some of Professor Vincent Carretta’s arguments that cast doubt on Equiano’s claim he was born in Africa. Please have a look inside the book in Amazon’s publicity.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0198707525/ref=rdr_ext_tmb
The Interesting Narrative (Oxford World's Classics): Amazon.co.uk: Olaudah Equiano, Brycchan Carey: 9780198707523: Books<https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0198707525/ref=rdr_ext_tmb>
www.amazon.co.uk
Buy The Interesting Narrative (Oxford World's Classics) by Olaudah Equiano, Brycchan Carey (ISBN: 9780198707523) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
I recently wrote to Professor Carey and asked for reasons why he didn’t include the works of other researchers in the Introduction so as to give a more balanced presentation of the so-called ‘controversy’. For example, he didn’t include the work of Distinguished Professor Paul Lovejoy or Professor Wilfred Samuels. Furthermore, Professor Carey excluded JOHANN FRIEDRICH BLUMENBACH's Review of The Interesting Narrative in the Journal, ‘Goettingische Anzeigen von Gelehrten Sachen’, April 26th, 1790. Blumenbach said he know Gustavus Vassa, The African, personally and didn’t express doubt that Equiano was born in Africa. Professor Carey seemed mainly concerned to express the doubts of Professor Vincent Carretta and the original thoughts of Professor S. E. Ogude (a Nigerian). Professor Carey has failed to include in the Introduction that Professor Ogude, at a Conference at Kingston University in March 2003, told the audience he (Ogude) no longer doubted Equiano’s claim to have been born in Africa.
Kingston controversy on Equiano (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obiwu)
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Obioma_Iwuanayanwu.JPG/1200px-Obioma_Iwuanayanwu.JPG]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obiwu>
Obiwu - Wikipedia<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obiwu>
en.wikipedia.org
Biography. Obiwu was born in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State in southeastern Nigeria. His parents, Ichie Njoku Iwuanyanwu and Lolo Igbeaku Iwuanyanwu, were ...
Obiwu is the pen name of Obioma Paul Iwuanyanwu (born 1962), a Nigerian-American writer and professor.
The international conference on Olaudah Equiano: Representation and Reality,” which was held on March 22, 2003, at Kingston University, Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom, was an occasion for a widely reported controversy in which Obiwu mounted a challenge to Vincent Carretta’s claim that Equiano had misrepresented his birthplace in his famous slave narrative. Writing on the disputation in the Nigerian Ike Anya, London-based medical doctor and writer, reports that “[Obiwu] questioned Carretta’s motives in seeking to demystify Equiano from a very weak evidence base and hinted that race, finance and fame were possible motives ... [He] pointed out the logical flaws in Carretta’s argument and suggested that Carretta visit Africa for further research”.
---------------------------------------
Professor Carey has now told me that, because of space, he couldn’t provide more information to the readers on the ‘pro and cons’ of The Birthplace Controversy. He says:
Thanks again for your thoughts. The introduction to a text has to look at a wide range of topics, and so I had very limited space to discuss the birthplace controversy. I really wanted to focus more on Equiano’s many achievements and celebrate them rather than focusing on his birthplace. I would not, however, agree that my discussion is ‘one-sided’. I do of course summarise the evidence that [Professor Carretta] offered in his various publications, but I follow that up by giving a summary of both sides of the argument and by concluding even-handedly that we may never know the truth. I have also provided a section in the ‘Further Reading’ specifically on the birthplace question, which gives references to people with views on both sides of the debate, including Paul Lovejoy, and invites students and others to go and read the debate for themselves.
-------------------------------
The debate continues!
Arthur
|