12 Years a Slave and Crossing the River Postcolonial...

In the words of Kurt Vonnegut, â€Å"all this happened, more or less.† Despite the fact that time-travel and World War II (aka Slaughterhouse Five) have absolutely no relevance here, the quote still stands as a remembrance of sorts. Slavery in the colonial period happened more than less, actually. From the 16th to 19th centuries, the British Empire orchestrated the greatest institution of oppression through the Atlantic slave trade, subsequently producing unconscious bigotry and racialized fantasies. As a postcolonial United States absconded from the political, cultural and economic ways of Great Britain, imperialism remained as a consequence of the human colonialism of slavery. Steve McQueen’s adaptation of 12 Years a Slave depicts the legacy†¦show more content†¦Thus, discrimination and racism towards black slaves in the United States and diasporic individuals (as a result of colonialism) become synonymous through the theory of neocolonialism. Under these cir cumstances, 12 Years a Slave and Caryl Phillips’ Crossing the River come to be one in the same through their want to reclaim and recover ethnic identity, and decolonize those internalized mindsets. In both McQueen’s adaptation and Phillips’ novel, slaves are depicted as capital incarnate, or living debts and impersonal obligations that were foisted upon them by their status as commercial objects. One of the major plantation and slave owners in the film, Edwin Epps (played by Michael Fassbender), can be seen as an extension of James Hamilton in â€Å"Crossing the River†. Each man in his â€Å"God-fearing† mentality personify the notion of commercial detachment, which essentially allows him to participate in the slave trade while maintaining a Christian belief. Thus, slavery became justified solely through the idea that it was a means for capital enterprise. Throughout 12 Years a Slave, the diversity of characters is conveyed through Solomon’s rather detached outlook, which inevitably fails him in his attempts to stereotypically classify slave proprietors as rogues, and the slaves uniformly as heroes. While this is actually aShow MoreRelatedOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesdemarcate historical epochs, the twentieth century does not appear to be a very coherent unit. The beginnings and ends of what we choose to call centuries are almost invariably years of little significance. But there is little agreement over when the twentieth century c.e. arrived, and there were several points both before the year 2000 (the collapse of the Soviet Union, the reunification of Germany, the surge of globalization from the mid-1990s) and afterward (9/11, or the global recession of 2008)Read MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 PagesUniversity, UK McAuley et al. provide a highly readable account of ideas, perspectives and practices of organization. By thoroughly explaining, analyzing and exploring organization theory the book increases the understanding of a field that in recent years has become ever more fragmented. Organization theory is central to managing, organizing and reflecting on both formal and informal structures, and in this respect you will find this book timely, interesting and valuable. Peter Holdt Christensen, Associate