Creole Testimonies: Slave Narratives from the British West Indies, 1709-1838 (The New Urban Atlantic)

Analyses the relationships among the socio-historical contexts, generic forms, and rhetorical strategies of British West Indian slave narratives. Grounded by the syncretic theories of creolisation and testimonio it breaks new ground by reading these dictated and fragmentary narratives on their own terms as examples of 'creole testimony'. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-25 The Forms of Creole Testimony: A Poetics of Fragmentation....Pages 27-56 The Creole Voices of West Indian Slave Narratives....Pages 57-91 “Going to Law”: Legal Discourse and Testimony in Early West Indian Slave Narratives....Pages 93-118 Zombie Testimony: Creole Religious Discourse in West Indian Slave Narratives....Pages 119-144 Conclusion....Pages 145-148 Back Matter....Pages 149-185 This study analyzes the relationships among the socio-historical contexts, generic forms, and rhetorical strategies of British West Indian slave narratives. Grounded by the syncretic theories of creolisation and slave narrative form, Nicole Aljoe breaks new ground by reading these dictated and often fragmentary narratives on their own terms as examples of Creole testimony