I. Modern Imperialism in Africa and Its Consequences

A. The Stages of European Presence in Africa: The Darkening of the Continent

1. Trade dates from the late 16^th century:

a) from luxury goods to humans in the 17^th century

b) established factories on the west coast, but ignorant of the interior

2. Campaign to abolish slavery shaped the image of Africa in the European imagination (1750-1850):

a) Edenic paradise or a site of backwardness

b) British liberators and African victims formed durable binaries in commemorating abolition (1807/18333) and in justifying continued intervention

c) The Gutenberg Monument (1840) by Pierre-Jean David and Thomas-Jones Barker, Queen Victoria Presenting a Bible in the Audience Chamber at Windsor Castle (1861).

3. Age of exploration followed the abolition of the slave trade and institution (1840-1870’s):

a) blanks “filled in” by explorers Livingstone, Stanley, Speke & Grant. etc

b) exploration discourse reinforced image of Africa in need of civilization, commerce and Christianity

c) Captain Speke and Grant with Timbo (1864) by Henry Wyndham Phillips.

4. Scramble to partitioned the Continent (1880s-1914)

a) competition for new markets and sources of raw materials

b) restore national pride or secure a place in the sun

c) set ground rules for expansion Berlin Conference (1884-1885)

d) The Empress (1901) by Arthur Drummond, The Peaceful Conquest of Africa (c.1900) by Georges A. Rochegrosse; and King Leopold II as young and older man (1853 & 1890).

B. The Congo Free State: A Humanitarian Front for Greed

1. obtained international recognition for territories in Central Africa at Berlin Conference:

a) culmination of two and half decades of plotting

b) used humanitarian organization to enhance credibility and private corporation to prospect for natural resources

c) recognition based on commitment to free trade in Congo and movement on River.

2. organized state apparatus to extract wealth from local populations:

a) denied access to land and natural resources

b) forced to work only for the state or concessionaries (businesses)

c) used violence to extract “taxes”.

II. Competing Visions of Africa: Heart of Darkness and Equiano’s Narrative:

A. Representing Africa and Africans: Conrad and Equiano

1. Conrad uses Congo Free State to illuminate the savagery that is harbored within European society and Europeans:

a) a mirror

b) fixed image of savagery, presumes their inferiority

c) uses discourses that represented Africa and Africans as backward

d) doomed to exploitation

2. Equiano exposes savagery of the transatlantic slave trade while humanizing Africans:

a) a mirror

b) stresses similarities with European society, insists on human equality

c) characterizes Africans as noble, but lacking in the technological achievements of Europe

d) just as Equiano benefited from European civilization, so could Africa

B. Space, Place and Time in Rendering Africa

1. Each author uses discourses that either erase or define humanity for European audiences:

a) spatial representation: general versus specific

b) cultural representation: meaningless versus meaningful

c) temporal representation: linear versus cyclical