by Hartman, Saidiya | USA
Published 03/10/2024 by Profile Books Ltd (Serpent’s Tail) in the United Kingdom
Paperback | 560 pages
‘One of our most brilliant contemporary thinkers’ Claudia Rankine
‘An unrelenting exploration of slavery and freedom’ New Yorker
In this radical re-evaluation of American history, Saidiya Hartman draws together a striking portrait of nineteenth-century slavery and its many afterlives. Through close examination of a variety of ‘scenes’, ranging from the auction block and the minstrel show to plantation diaries and legal cases, Scenes of Subjection investigates the interconnected nature of historical enslavement and present-day racism. With bold and persuasively argued possibilities for Black resistance and transformation, this book shows how far we have yet to go to dismantle the pervasive legacy of slavery.