Wester, M. (2022) The gothic origins of anti-blackness: genre tropes in nineteenth-century moral panics and (abject) folk devils. Gothic Studies, 24 (3). pp. 228-245. ISSN 1362-7937
Abstract
‘The Gothic Origins of Anti-Blackness’ considers the intersections between Gothic texts and moral panics, a sociopolitical mechanism first theorized by Stanley Cohen in Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972). I revise Cohen's theory to clarify the peculiar eruptions of exponentially violent anti-Black discourses across various eras, noting that the folk devils targeted by moral panics are invariably abject figures upon which society projects a gothic visage. I reveal how the era of the (Anti-)Slavery debates exemplifies the reduction of Black populations to abject folk devils demonized amid white, western moral panics. The essay then explores Matthew ‘Monk’ Lewis's Isle of Devils to expose how the moral panic over socioeconomic shifts, white cultural degeneration and slavery manifests in Gothic texts. Lastly the essay reveals how societies re-articulate the tropes and characteristics of such fictional Black ‘devils’ in their discussions of real populations, and the consequences of such renderings.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 Maisha Wester. |
Keywords: | abjection; racism; anti-slavery; abolition; stereotype; social violence |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > School of English (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 02 Aug 2024 15:24 |
Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2024 15:24 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Edinburgh University Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3366/gothic.2022.0139 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:215383 |