T e X t s

Justification of Black enslavement / inequality by natural reasons (17^th - 18^th c.)

Висновок Джефферсона про розумові здібності негрів спирається не стільки на приклади їхньої «нерозумної» або «нерозсудливої» поведінки у повсякденному житті (які, вочевидь, траплялися б приблизно з тією самою частотніс­тю, як у представників інших рас), а на їхній нездатності, на його думку, до абстрактного мислення, до «процесу тве­резого міркування» (reasoning) й особливо до «поезії», тобто літературної творчості. Цьому питанню він приділяє чима­ло уваги, виносячи своє негативне судження про доробок поетів Філліс Вітлі та Ігнаціуса Санчо як про просту «папужачу» імітацію поезії білих, позбавлену оригінальності. Таким чином, ставиться знак рівності між відсутністю у чорношкірих гідної уваги писемної традиції (ознаки висо­кого ступеня цивілізації d європейській системі коорди­нат) та низьким рівнем їхнього розвитку.

Ця тенденція бере початок ще з пізнього Відродження. Один зтрійки Джефферсонових кумирів (до якої входили ще І. Ньютон і Дж. Локк), Френсіс Бекон, ще у 1623 р. ототожнював «неписьменність» із «дикістю» — певний на­род, описаний у «Новій Атлантиді», «будучи невігласами та дикунами... не зміг залишити нащадкам писемності, ми­стецтв та цивілізації...». Протягом наступних століть на­дання привілейованого статусу письму слугувало в євро­пейській колоніальній (та американській рабовласницькій) практиці інструментом встановлення та утримання влади над іншими народами. Не лише ступінь розвитку не-європейців, а й їхня приналежність до людського роду безпосе­редньо дедукувалися зі здатності створювати письмові па­м'ятки. Це було цілком логічно з раціоцентричної позиції Просвітництва — адже без письмових джерел неможливо було засвідчити діяльність розуму; без таких свідчень не існувало історії, а без неї не могло бути й мови про «люд­ськість» у західному розумінні. Отже, Д. Юм супроводжує есе «Про національні характери» (опубл. 1748 p.) приміт­кою, де висловлює своє припущення про природну ниж­чість негрів та інших рас щодо білих. Він мотивує цю дум­ку неможливістю назвати серед не-білих хоча б «єдину людину, яка б уславилася своїми діяннями та роздумами (виділено мною. — Н. В.)», а також відсутністю у них «складних витворів, мистецтв та наук». Вочевидь, згадку про «роздуми» слід розуміти як констатацію їхньої відсут­ності у доступній європейцеві письмовій формі, оскільки навряд чи йому спало б на думку шукати в Африці мудре усне слово.

Спираючись на ці зауваження Юма, Кант, у свою чергу, у 1764 р. зазначає, що «відмінність між цими двома расами людей така фундаментальна, що видається настільки ж значною у царині розумових здібностей, як і у царині ко­льору», і далі остаточно натуралізує припущення щодо співвідношення між кольором шкіри та інтелектом у своє­му брутально-категоричному коментарі до думки, вислов­леної чорношкірим: «Ця людина була зовсім чорна, з голо­ви до п'ят — явний доказ того, що сказане нею — дурни­ця». Нарешті, Г. В. Ф. Геґель, підсумовуючи погляди, що стали на той час панівними, з перспективи своєї філософії історії оголошує Африку «дитячою країною, що перебуває за межами самосвідомої історії і оповита темним мороком ночі». Зазвичай подібна вузькість бачення з боку найвидатніших мислителів Старого й Нового Світу походила не лише від браку позитивних відомостей про расового «Ін­шого», а й від нездатності/небажання припустити існуван­ня множинних систем накопичення, зберігання та переда­вання знань у різних культурах, так само як і уявити, що саме знання може мати різну природу.

(Висоцька Н.О. “Наші чорні брати”: риторика раси у просвітницькому дискурсі томаса Джефферсона //Просвітницька традиція в літературі США., К., 2005, с. 88-90).

Mythologizing the History of Atlantic Crossing by Africans Captured into Slavery (Middle Passage)

Historical evidence in a slave narrative:

Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797), The Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789)

The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast of the sea, was a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror when I was carried on board. I was immediately handled and tossed up to see if I were sound by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. Their complexions too differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the language they spoke, (which was very different from any I had ever heard) united to confirm me in this belief. Indeed such were the horrors of my views and fears at the moment, that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would have freely parted with them all to have exchanged my condition with that of the meanest slave in my own country. When I looked round the ship too and saw a large furnace or copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description chained together, every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate; and, quite overpowered with horror and anguish, I fell motionless on the deck and fainted. When I recovered a little I found some black people about me, who I believed were some of those who brought me on board, and had been receiving their pay; they talked to me in order to cheer me, but all in vain. I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces, and loose hair. They told me I was not; and one of the crew brought me a small portion of spirituous liquor in a wine glass; but, being afraid of him, I would not take it out of his hand. One of the blacks therefore took it from him and gave it to me, and I took a little down my pal­ate, which, instead of reviving me, as they thought it would, threw me into the greatest consternation at the strange feeling it produced, having never tasted any such liquor before. Soon after this the blacks who brought me on board went off, and left me abandoned to despair. I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country, or even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as friendly; and I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my present situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my ignorance of what I was to undergo. I was not long suffered to indulge my grief; I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste any thing. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely. I had never experienced any thing of this kind before; and although, not being used to the water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it, yet nevertheless, could I have got over the nettings, I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and, besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water: and I have seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut for attempting to do so, and hourly whipped for not eating. This indeed was often the case with myself. In a little time after, amongst the poor chained men, I found some of my own nation, which in a small degree gave ease to my mind. I inquired of these what was to be done with us; they gave me to understand we were to be carried to these white people's country to work for them. I then was a little revived, and thought, if it were no worse than working, my situation was not so desperate: but still I feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruelty; and this not only shewn towards us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves. One white man in particular I saw, when we were permitted to be on deck, hogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the foremast, that he died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side as they would have done a brute. This made me fear these people the more; and I expected nothing less than to be treated in the same manner. I could not help expressing my fears and apprehensions to some of my countrymen: I asked them if these people had no country, but lived in this hollow place (the ship): they told me they did not, but came from a distant one. 'Then,' said I, 'how comes it in all our country we never heard of them?' They told me because they lived so very far off. I then asked where were their women? had they any like themselves? I was told they had: 'and why,' said I, 'do we not see them?' they answered, because they were left behind. I asked how the vessel could go? they told me they could not tell; but that there were cloths put upon the masts by the help of the ropes I saw, and then the vessel went on; and the white men had some spell or magic they put in the water when they liked in order to stop the vessel. I was exceedingly amazed at this account, and really thought they were spirits. I therefore wished much to be from amongst them, for I expected they would sacrifice me: but my wishes were vain; for we were so quartered that it was impossible for any of us to make our escape. While we stayed on the coast I was mostly on deck; and one day, to my great astonishment, I saw one of these vessels coming with the sails up. As soon as the whites saw it, they gave a great shout, at which we were amazed; and the more so as the vessel appeared larger by approaching nearer. At last she came to an anchor in my sight, and when the anchor was let go I and my countrymen who saw it were lost in astonishment to observe the vessel stop; and were now convinced it was done by magic. Soon after this the other ship got her boats out, and they came on board of us, and the people of both ships seemed very glad to see each other. Several of the strangers also shook hands with us black people, and made motions with their hands, signifying I suppose we were to go to their country; but we did not understand them. At last, when the ship we were in had got in all her cargo, they made ready with many fearful noises, and we were all put under deck, so that we could not see how they managed the vessel. But this disappointment was the least of my sorrow. The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship's і cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential. The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable.

(An Early American Reader, Washington, D.C., 1992, p.649-651).

Contemporary poet’s version: Robert Hayden (1913-1982), Middle Passage (1962)

Дата добавления: 2015-06-27