Bearing Witness
Contemporary Slave Narratives and the Global Antislavery Movement

A study of contemporary slave narratives that reveals the conditions and consequences of slavery and the importance of survivors' stories.

Andrea Nicholson (Author)

9781316510803, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 September 2022

252 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

'Nicholson's analysis of over 200 contemporary slave narratives provides an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the varieties of severe exploitation grouped under the category of enslavement and is an impassioned plea to patiently listen to the voices of survivors. Especially important are her discussions of the myriad ways that survivors exercise agency and attempt to reclaim their identities, as well as the very complex meanings of freedom among those currently enslaved and those notionally freed from enslavement.' William Paul Simmons, author of Joyful Human Rights and Human Rights Law and the Marginalized Other

Since the 1990s, modern slavery has been recognized as a global problem, with campaigners around the world providing assessments of its nature and extent, its drivers, and possible solutions for ending it. However, largely absent from the global antislavery movement's discourse and policy prescriptions are the voices of survivors of slavery themselves. Survivors' authentic voices are underemployed vital tools in the fight against modern slavery in all its forms. Through close readings of over 200 contemporary slave narratives, Andrea Nicholson repositions the history of the genre and exposes the conditions and consequences of slavery, and the challenges survivors face in liberation. Far from the trope of 'capture, enslavement, escape,' she argues that narratives are rich and vitally important sources that enable the antislavery community to be gain important insights and build more effective interventions.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. A narrated self: The contemporary slave narrative genre
2. 'I was free, I still wasn't free': Defining freedom
3. The construction and reconstruction of slave and survivor identities
4. Bearing witness: Trauma in contemporary slave narratives
5. Assuming 'full' freedom: Challenges in recovery
6. Antislavery strategies and the survivor as activist
Conclusion
Appendix: Table of narratives analyzed
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3]