Plantation Metaphors and Intellectual History

Kris Manjapra and Shirley Ye will host a series of seminars supported by the Leverhulme Trust for postgraduate students in May and June 2023.

Preparatory readings will be circulated to registered participants one week before the seminar.

Plantations are places of death, to be sure. On the other hand, one of the central, framing metaphors of modern times was rooted in the reproduction of the plantation complex – the metaphor of vibrant freedom. The metaphorics of freedom determined the social and material transformations of the plantation complex during the long nineteenth century, galvanizing the entangled actions of oppressors, beneficiaries, and the enslaved and oppressed, alike. This talk, informed by Caribbean Thinking about vibrancy and vitality, explores the unexpected historical meaning that emerged in and through the bondage of the plantation complex.

These seminars are open to all students. Please register.