Aesthetic Archives of Cuba’s Second Slavery

This project examines lesser-known archives of literature, maps, art, theater, and performance from Cuba in the 1830s–1850s, the height of the “second slavery,” a period during which the trans-Atlantic slave trade had been officially banned but illicit importation of enslaved peoples in fact increased. A research assistant may read in Cuban media history from the period, histories of railroad construction in Cuba, catalog entries from Cuba’s National Archive, cases from Cuba’s Military Commission, court transcriptions that register Bantu or Yoruba words, registries of African-born translators enlisted by the British and located in Britain’s Foreign Office records, and accounts of theater, acrobatics, musical performances, and optical spectacles such as panoramas and dioramas from period Cuban newspapers, in addition to reading select literary publications from the period. The student must be strongly proficient in Spanish; additional knowledge of Yoruba and/or Kongo art history would be welcome.

The student would gain research skills in 19th-century Atlantic world archives (from West Africa to Cuba, Spain, and including US cities such as Philadelphia, New York, New Orleans).