‘Either find repose in an Indian wig-wam – or from an Indian tomahawk’: Radical Memory and Southey’s American Indians
Wednesday 31st January 2018, 17:30 - Rm G.05, 50 GS
We're pleased to announce the details of what will be the first of this semester's LLC WiP talks. This week, Valentina Aparicio, a Ph.D. candidate in English Literature, will be presenting a paper considering questions of memory and the representation of indigenous American peoples in the poetry of Robert Southey. Please join us for what promises to be a fascinating talk and discussion; as always, enjoy all of this with a coffee/tea and a biscuit (if you so desire).
Abstract:
My paper will focus on Robert Southey’s representations of indigenous peoples of the Americas in his series of ‘National Songs’ published in the Morning Post in 1799. These poems, written as imitations of Native American songs, propose different ways of approaching history. I will propose Southey’s poems approach the Indigenous American past in two opposite ways. Some of the pieces portray a future-oriented type of memory, voiced by Native American and Mapuche speakers. This radical memory is characterised by calls for revenge. However, other poems portray a conservative-leaning type of memory, voiced by an Inca speaker. This second type of memory is characterised by an erasure of the vanquished, and an exaltation of the figure of the victim. I will argue that Southey’s failed Pantisocratic scheme, and his awareness of native-led rebellions in the Americas, directly influenced the type of memory that he ascribed to each group. Finally, I briefly relate Southey’s representations of memory to his views on the relation between English radicals and native resistance.
Bio:
Valentina Aparicio is a second year English Literature PhD Candidate at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses in Romantic radical politics, particularly in the writings of Robert Southey. She is currently studying how early 19th century revolutionary movements in the Americas affected Southey's body of work. Valentina is also interested in transatlantic studies, long 19th century radical politics, Marxist postcolonial studies, and decadentism and the Gothic