An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Dr Sarah Levin-Richardson (Visiting Research Fellow 2022; University of Washington)
The Emotional Landscape of Ancient Slavery
This talk explores the benefits, pitfalls, and potential means of studying the emotional landscapes that enslaved individuals in ancient Rome (here, roughly 3rd century BCE-3rd century CE) negotiated on a daily basis. Emotional/affective labor (Arlie Hochschild 1983; Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri 2000, 2004) offers one such theoretical lens, allowing us to recognize and value this important form of labor as performed by enslaved prostitutes, household servants, and wet nurses. In addition, Saidiya Hartman’s (2007, 2008; see also 2016 and 2019) methodology of critical fabulation, a mode of storytelling rooted in archival material that she uses to tell the stories of individuals on the trans-Atlantic slave route, can be used to make the Roman past both visceral and vibrant. Ultimately, the project hopes to illuminate the very real, personal consequences that an empire built on slavery had for those held in servitude. (Note: this talk will contain references to sexual and physical violence.)
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81322391722
Passcode: Vr8f3ew2