Abstract:

This article considers Equiano's turn to performance and spectacle in his Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano in relation to the eighteenth-century stage practice known as "freedom of the scenes." Widely regarded as the "prototype" of all subsequent slave narratives, the Narrative is infused with instances of racial mimicry, including whiteface and blackface, as well as self-fashioning through dress and style—scenes that evince potential for understanding Equiano's more radical abolitionist vision. In foregrounding race and mimicry, Equiano not only takes on the techniques of what was emerging in his lifetime as "blackface," but he reverses the dynamic, appropriating "whiteness" in whiteface acts in order to offer a sustained critique of racial injustice. By strategically positioning himself before audiences through mimicry, fashion and style, Equiano demonstrates how performance cultures help Black Atlantic subjects to constitute themselves as a people.

摘要：

本文探讨了艾奎亚诺在他的《奥劳达·艾奎亚诺的生活有趣的叙述》中对表演和奇观的转向，与十八世纪被称为“场景自由”的舞台实践的关系。该叙事被广泛认为是所有后续奴隶叙事的“原型”，它充满了种族模仿的实例，包括白脸和黑脸，以及通过服装和风格进行自我塑造——这些场景表明了理解艾奎亚诺更激进的废奴主义愿景的潜力。 。在突出种族和模仿方面，艾奎亚诺不仅采用了他一生中出现的“黑脸”技巧，而且还扭转了白脸行为中动态的、挪用的“白人性”，以便对种族不公正提出持续的批评。通过模仿、时尚和风格，艾奎亚诺在观众面前战略性地定位自己，展示了表演文化如何帮助黑人大西洋主体将自己塑造为一个民族。