Anti-Black Racism in Early Modern English Drama: The Other “Other”

213 Pages·2017·1.662 MB·English

by  Matthieu Chapman

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Anti-Black Racism in Early Modern
English Drama
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n This is the first book to deploy the methods and ensemble of questions from
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8 Afro-Pessimism to engage and interrogate the methods of Early Modern
1 English studies. Using contemporary Afro-pessimist theories to provide a
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2 foundation for structural analyses of race in the Early Modern Period, it
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0 engages the arguments for race as a fluid construction of human identity
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t by addressing how race in Early Modern England functioned not only as
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] a marker of human identity, but also as an a priori constituent of human
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g subjectivity. Chapman argues that blackness is the marker of social death
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Di that allows for constructions of human identity to become transmutable
n based on the impossibility of recognition and incorporation for Blackness
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S into humanity. Using dramatic texts such as Othello, Titus Andronicus,
a, and other Early Modern English plays both popular and lesser known, the
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n book shifts the binary away from the currently accepted standard of white/
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f non-white that defines “otherness” in the period and examines race in Early
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al Modern England from the prospective of a non-black/black antagonism.
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o Matthieu Chapman is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Central
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Routledge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
25 Blood and Home in Early Modern Drama
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1 Domestic Identity on the Renaissance Stage
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2 Ariane M. Balizet
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u 26 Bodies, Speech, and Reproductive Knowledge in Early Modern
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a England
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8 Sara D. Luttfring
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2 27 Rethinking the Mind-Body Relationship in Early Modern Literature,
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2 Philosophy and Medicine
at The Renaissance of the Body
o] Charis Charalampous
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D 28 Sexuality and Memory in Early Modern England
n Literature and the Erotics of Recollection
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S Edited by John S. Garrison and Kyle Pivetti
a,
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r 29 Early Modern Constructions of Europe
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f Literature, Culture, History
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a Edited by Florian Kläger and Gerd Bayer
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y 30 Imagining Arcadia in Renaissance Romance
it Marsha S. Collins
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i 31 Male-to-Female Crossdressing in Early Modern English Literature
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U Gender, Performance, and Queer Relations
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y Simone Chess
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e 32 The Renaissance and the Postmodern
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a A Study in Comparative Critical Values
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nl Thomas L. Martin and Duke Pesta
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D 33 Enchantment and Dis-enchantment in Shakespeare and
Early Modern Drama
Wonder, the Sacred, and the Supernatural
Edited by Nandini Das and Nick Davis
34 Anti-Black Racism in Early Modern English Drama
The Other “Other”
Matthieu Chapman
Anti-Black Racism in Early
Modern English Drama
The Other “Other”
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n Matthieu Chapman
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First published 2017
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
7 © 2017 Taylor & Francis
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2 The right of Matthieu Chapman to be identified as author of this work
y has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
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a Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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a All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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8 utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
1 known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
2 any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
2 from the publishers.
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t Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
a registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
o] without intent to infringe.
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i Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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n Names: Chapman, Matthieu, 1984– author.
a
S Title: Anti-black racism in early modern English drama: the other “other” /
a, By Matthieu Chapman.
i Description: New York: Routledge, 2016. | Series: Routledge studies in
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r Renaissance literature and culture; 33 | Includes bibliographical references
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f and index.
i
al Identifiers: LCCN 2016030422 (print) | LCCN 2016045277
C Subjects: LCSH: Racism in literature. | English drama—Early modern and
f Elizabethan, 1500–1600—History and criticism. | Africans in literature. |
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y Blacks in literature.
t Classification: LCC PR658.R34 C53 2016 (print) | LCC PR658.R34 (ebook) |
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s DDC 822/.309896—dc23
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e LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016030422
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U ISBN: 978-1-138-67738-8 (hbk)
[ ISBN: 978-1-315-55954-4 (ebk)
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Contents
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n List of Figures vii
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8 Acknowledgments ix
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: Introduction: “There Were No Black People in England…” 1
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at 1 Staging Blackness: The Incapacity for Interlocution 33
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g 2 “If They Were Black, One Would Not Feel It So Much”:
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D Racial Discourse Separating Moors from Blacks in Early
n Modern England 67
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a, 3 Othello Is a White Man: The Subjectivity of the Other
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r in Othello 106
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a 4 Primary Encounters with Subjects and Slaves: Comparing
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f the Descriptions of North Americans and Africans in the
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y Narratives of John Hawkins and William Davenant’s
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si The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru 125
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i 5 Aaron’s Incorporation and the Destruction of Civil Society 156
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y Afterword 182
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d Bibliography 185
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o Index 197
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List of Figures
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n 1.1 Portrait of Louise de Kéroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth
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8 J by Pierre Mignard. Oil on canvas, 1682. 47 1/2 in. × 37 1/2 in.
1 (1207 mm × 953 mm). Image courtesy National Portrait
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2 Gallery, London. 57
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0 1.2 Mary (Somerset), Duchess of Ormonde by and published
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t by John Smith, after Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt mezzotint, 1702.
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] 16 3/4 in. × 10 5/8 in. (424 mm × 270 mm). Image courtesy
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g National Portrait Gallery, London. 58
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Di 1.3 Frederick Armand de Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg,
n published by John Smith, after Sir Godfrey Kneller,
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S Bt mezzotint, 1689 (circa 1689). 15 in. × 10 1/4 in.
a, (382 mm × 260 mm) plate size; 16 5/8 in. × 11 5/8 in.
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n (423 mm × 295 mm). Image courtesy National Portrait
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o Gallery, London. 59
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al 1.4 Anonymous portrait of Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby
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d’Eresby (1555–1601). Image courtesy the Trustees of the
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o Grimsthorpe and Drummond Castle Trust; photograph,
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t Courtald Institute of Art. 61
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Acknowledgments
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n I never thought I would write a book. Even once my interest in theory and
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8 J scholarship was cultivated, I never thought I would write a book. Once I
1 began to produce the manuscript for the dissertation that would eventually
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2 become this work, I never truly understood the scope and magnitude of
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0 writing a book. I am incredibly lucky, however, to have been surrounded
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t by many in my personal, academic, and professional lives who did under-
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] stand the scope and magnitude and were willing to guide, push, and pull
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g me through the process. I never anticipated the sheer number of people
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Di without whom this book would not have been possible. I hope I do not
n leave anyone out. This section is for those without whose interventions and
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S assistance, whether personally or professionally, this book would not have
a, been possible.
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n First and foremost, I want to thank my family. My beautiful wife, Steph,
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o who decided to marry me even though I was already married to my work.
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al She is a big part of the reason this completed book is here before you. My
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father, Darrell Chapman, who even though he may not fully understand
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o the rigors of graduate study and academic life, was constantly supportive
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t and always let me know how proud he was of me. My mother-in-law and
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r father-in-law, Chris Mlot and Ken Kelly, who have so graciously and self-
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v lessly helped to ease the financial burdens associated with a life of the mind.
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U Finally, my dogs Trinity and Pearl, whose cuteness is the greatest stress
y [ reliever of all.
b I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the committee from
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e University of California (UC) San Diego and UC Irvine with whom I have had
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a the privilege of being guided and mentored by. First, I would like to thank
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l Dr. Frank B. Wilderson III, who has been a source of constant inspiration
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w and intimidation, and I mean those both in the best of ways. It was his bril-
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D liance and his seminars that helped me realize how far I had to go when
I began, and it was his mentoring that helped me get there. John Rouse has
perhaps played the largest role in shaping me as a teacher and has provided
wonderful advice as both a scholar and professor. Ian Munro came aboard
this project despite having never met me before his engagement with the
project, but his belief in my proposal and my work has aided my belief in my
work, and he has been instrumental to the process since. And finally, Patrick