Whose Emotions?

ABSTRACT

This article is intended both as a methodological intervention and as a provocation. It calls on us to think very carefully about how, why and (ultimately) if we should do this work of combining the history of slavery and the history of emotions. There is a danger that, without thinking through the ethics of researching and writing about the intimate, inner lives of the enslaved, the field will replicate the extractive nature of transatlantic slavery and contribute to the perpetuation of the very same emotional standards that Black people were subjected to under slavery. Thinking alongside Black Studies scholars and Black feminist theory, this article explores the following questions: whose emotions are we talking about and given the extractive nature of transatlantic slavery, how can we avoid this field perpetuating the emotional standards the regime created? It argues that considering the emotions of researchers and descendants of the enslaved is vital, as is careful consideration of the ethics and limits of the historian’s work.

KEYWORDS:

• Slavery
• black feminism
• afterlives
• archival work
• descendants

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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62 Rosenwein and Cristiani, What Is the History of Emotions?, 3.

63 Stearns and Stearns, ‘Emotionology’, 836.

64 Stoler, ‘Colonial Archives and the Arts of Governance’.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hannah Cusworth

Ascription: Hannah Cusworth is an AHRC funded PhD researcher working in collaboration with English Heritage and the University of Hull School of Humanities, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Kingston Upon Hull, HU6 7RX. Email: [email protected]