Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa – What's in a Name?

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 9; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14788810.2012.664957

1740-4649

Paul E. Lovejoy,

Borges, Kipling, and Jewish Identity

Abstract Abstract Whether the author of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano; or, Gustavus Vassa the African (London, 1789) should be referred to as Equiano or Vassa in part relates to where he was born and how he related to his place of birth. The choice of name also relates to how scholars want to perceive of the author, on the one hand, and how the man himself presented himself at the time, on the other. It is argued here that the author of The Interesting Narrative used his birth name, Olaudah Equiano, as proof of his African background, not as a name by which he wanted to be known, Gustavus Vassa. Hence, the dilemma is why scholars refer to him by his African name, when he chose not to do so. It is suggested that use of the birth name has more to do with the politics of representation and political correctness of later generations of scholarship, not with the intention of the man. The imposition of the birth name as the signifier long after he died, however, has allowed the postulation of a series of dichotomies, such as place of birth being in Africa and/or Carolina, and whether or not the man was self-made, meaning creating his identity and benefiting from that creation, as opposed to being a committed activist motivated by principles and sacrifice. The veneer of interpretation melts away if it is recognized that Vassa consciously operated in a different mode of expression and implementation than subsequent literary scholars and historians have allowed. The dichotomy between evangelical man and crass entrepreneur evaporates. The reason for the debate over his birth has more to do with the present clash between literary scholarship and historical interpretation than over possible misinterpretations and misrepresentations of the past. Keywords: autobiographyslave narrativeEquianoabolition nom de plume Notes 1. The edition used here is the Penguin edition, Carretta Carretta , Vincent . Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self Made Man . Athens : University of Georgia Press , 2005 . [Google Scholar], Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, referred to as Vassa, The Interesting Narrative, when citing the text itself, and otherwise cited as Carretta, Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, when referring to other materials in Carretta's edition. 2. The research for this paper was carried out with the assistance of a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. I wish to thank Mark Duffill, John Bugg Bugg, John. 2006. The Other Interesting Narrative: Olaudah Equiano's Public Book Tour. PMLA, 121: 1422–42. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], James Sidbury, Karlee Sapoznik Sapoznik , Karlee Anne . " The Letters and Other Writings of Gustavus Vassa, alias Olaudah Equiano, the African ." Major Research Paper, Department of History, York University , 2008 . [Google Scholar], Mariza Soares, Peitra Arana, Sydney Kanya-Forstner, Laura Murphy, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Arthur Torrington for their comments and suggestions. I am particularly grateful to Neil Marshall for research assistance and ongoing interest in this project. I wish to thank Erik Gøbel for his tolerant explanation of Scandinavian nationalities, which provided the inspiration for this paper. 3. Vincent Carretta has received considerable attention for arguing the case that the author of The Interesting Narrative was not born in Africa, in what is now Nigeria, but in South Carolina; see "Light on an Eighteenth-Century Question of Identity," 96–105; "More New Light," 226–35; and, Equiano, the African, 1–16. Also see Burnard, "Goodbye, Equiano the African." 4. Ciuraru, Nom de Plume, xiv–xxiv. 5. Yellin, Harriet Jacobs: A Life. 6. Hodgkin, ed., Nigerian Perspectives, 155–66. Also see, for example, William L. Anderson, To Tell a Free Story: The First Century of Afro-American Autobiography, 17601865 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986). 7. Carey, "Olaudah Equiano: African or American?" 231. 8. Gustavus Vassa to Granville Sharp, 6 May 1780, in Anti-slave trade movement – Great Britain – Correspondence, Sierra Leone Collection, Series VI, Supplement 1, Box 1, Folder 1, University of Illinois at Chicago. I am grateful to Neil Marshall for obtaining a copy of this letter. The full note is as follows, in reference to the identification of the signature, GustavusVassa: "a Black & an African, who wrote his own life[.] He fell into fits if any One pronounced his Real name, which was Olaudah Equiano[.] My Father knew him – J. Phillipps of Middle Hill." 9. Carretta, Equiano the African, 241, 249, 251, 253. 10. Daddi Addoun and Lovejoy, "Muhammad Kaba Saghanughu and the Muslim Community of Jamaica," 201–20; Daddi Addoun and Lovejoy, "Arabic Manuscript of Muhammad Kaba Saghanughu;" and Warner-Lewis Warner-Lewis , Maureen . " Religious Constancy and Compromise among Nineteenth-Century Caribbean-based African Muslims ." In Islam, Slavery and Diaspora , Behnaz Mirzai , Ismael Musah Montana and Paul E. Lovejoy , 237 – 68 . Trenton : Africa World Press , 2009 . [Google Scholar], "Caribbean-based African Muslims." 11. Law Law , Robin , and Paul E. Lovejoy , The Biography of Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua: His Passage from Slavery to Freedom in Africa and America , 2nd ed Princeton , NJ : Markus Wiener , 2007 . [Google Scholar] and Lovejoy, eds., Biography of Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua. Also see Lovejoy, "Identity and the Mirage of Ethnicity," 90–105, and Lovejoy Lovejoy , Paul E. " Narratives of Trans-Atlantic Slavery: The Lives of Two Muslims, Muhammad Kaba Saghanaghu and Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua ." In Africa and Trans-Atlantic Memories: Literary and Aesthetic Manifestations of Diaspora and History , Naana Opoku-Agyemang , Paul E. Lovejoy , and David Trotman , 7 – 22 . Trenton : Africa World Press , 2008 . [Google Scholar], "Narratives of Trans-Atlantic Slavery." 12. Smith Smith , Venture . A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture Smith, A Native of Africa: but Resident about Sixty Years in the United States of America. Related by Himself . New London : C. Holt , 1798 . [Google Scholar], Narrative; and Stewart, Venture Smith and the Business of Slavery and Freedom. 13. Acholonu, Igbo Roots of Olaudah Equiano; and Afigbo Afigbo, Adiele E. 1981. Ropes of Sand: Studies in Igbo History and Culture, Ibadan: University Press. [Google Scholar], Ropes of Sand, 154. 14. Carretta, Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, 253. 15. Watson, "What's in a Name?" 95–119; Ciuraru, Nom de Plume; and Yellin Yellin, Jean Fagan. 2004. Harriet Jacobs: A Life, New York: Basic Civitas. [Google Scholar], Harriet Jacobs: A Life. 16. Byrd, "Eboe, Country, Nation;" and Sidbury, "From Igbo Israeli to African Christian," 79–106. 17. Vassa, Interesting Narrative, 63. 18. Vassa, Interesting Narrative, 41. 19. Vassa, Interesting Narrative, 64. 20. Edwards and Shaw, "Invisible Chi in Equiano's Interesting Narrative," 146–56. 21. Roberts Roberts , Michael . Gustavus Adolphus: A History of Sweden, 1611–1632 . 2 vols . London : Longmans, Green , 1953 – 58 . [Google Scholar], GustavusAdolphus. 22. Carretta, Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, 252. 23. Vassa, Interesting Narrative, 31.Emphasis in the original. 24. Vassa, Interesting Narrative, 64. 25. Hodgkin Hodgkin , Thomas , Nigerian Perspectives: An Historical Anthology . London : Oxford University Press , 1960 . [Google Scholar], Nigerian Perspectives, 155–66. 26. Fyfe Fyfe, Christopher. 1962. A History of Sierra Leone, London: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar], History of Sierra Leone, 13, 15, 18–19, 25, 26. 27. Edwards, "Embrenché and Ndichie," 401–02. 28. Jones, "Olaudah Equiano of the Niger Ibo," 60–98. Curtin adopted the name Equiano in his "General Introduction," 7. 29. Edwards, Equiano's Travels; Edwards and Walvin, Black Personalities in the Era of the Slave Trade; and Edwards Edwards, Paul. 1969. The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa the African, London: Dawson. [Google Scholar] and Dabydeen, Black Writers in Britain. 30. For example, Walvin uses the name Equiano, as in An African's Life, as does Gates, "Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano." Also see Shyllon, "Olaudah Equiano;" Fryer, Staying Power; Ogude Ogude, S.E. 1989. No Roots Here: On the Igbo Roots of Olaudah Equiano. Review of English and Literary Studies, 5: 1–16. [Google Scholar], "No Roots Here," 1–16; Acholonu Acholonu, Catherine Obianju. 1989. The Igbo Roots of Olaudah Equiano – An Anthropological Research, Owerri: Afa Publications. [Google Scholar], Igbo Roots of Olaudah Equiano; Costanzo Costanzo, Angelo. 1987. Surprizing Narrative: Olaudah Equiano and the Beginnings of Black Autobiography, New York: Greenwood Press. [Google Scholar], Surprizing Narrative; Ito Ito, Akiyo. 1997. Olaudah Equiano and the New York Artisans: The First American Edition of the Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa. Early American Literature, 32(1): 82–101. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "Olaudah Equiano and the New York Artisans," 82; Rodgers Rodgers, Nini. 1997. Equiano in Belfast: A Study of the Anti-Slavery Ethos in a Northern Town. Slavery and Abolition, 18(2): 73–89. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], "Equiano in Belfast;" Hochschild Hochschild, Adam. 2005. Bury the Chains: The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery, New York: Houghton Mifflin. [Google Scholar], Bury the Chains; and the President of the Equiano Society, Arthur Torrington, "Biography and History." Also see Rolingher Rolingher, Louise. 2004. A Metaphor of Freedom: Olaudah Equiano and Slavery in Africa. Canadian Journal of African Studies, 38(1): 88–122. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], "Metaphor of Freedom." 31. For a discussion see Lovejoy Lovejoy, Paul E. 2006. "Identity and the Mirage of Ethnicity: Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua's Journey in the Americas". In African Re-Genesis: Confronting Social Issues in the Diaspora, Edited by: Haviser, Jay B. and MacDonald, Kevin C. 90–105. London: Cavendish Publishing. [Google Scholar], "Autobiography and Memory," 317–47; and Carretta, "Response to Lovejoy Lovejoy , Paul E. " Gustavus Vassa and the Scottish Enlightenment ." Paper presented at American Historical Association, Annual Meeting , New York , January 2 , 2009 . [Google Scholar];" and Carretta, Equiano the African, 1–16. Also see Bugg, "Other Interesting Narrative," 1422–42, who reconsiders the debate over where Vassa was born. 32. Usually, he signed himself as Gustavus Vassa or Vasa, the African, sometimes "an African;" see Carretta, Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, 253. 33. The Diary; or Woodfall's Register, 25 April 1789, cited in Shyllon, Black People in Britain, 271–72. The letter to "Lords Spiritual and Temporal," cited in Shyllon, Black People in Britain, 261, as March 1789, has different dates, depending upon the edition of The Interesting Narrative. 34. Cited in Carretta, Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, 261, n198. 35. See Carretta, Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, 286, n486, citing the surviving musters for the Race Horse (National Archives, London, ADM 36/7490). 36. Dr. Charles Irving was a naval surgeon and inventor. He was credited with the development of an apparatus for distilling seawater and turning it into drinking water. The Royal Navy began using his desalination process in 1770, and in 1772, Parliament granted Irving £5,000 for the invention, although in fact a similar apparatus had been demonstrated in 1764 by Dr. James Lind (1716–1794), and there were at least two other similar devices in operation before Irving developed his. Lind's distillation apparatus was already in use on several ships of the Royal Navy, most notably in H.M.S. Dolphin, while circumnavigating the world, and also in ships of the merchant service. Irving's invention was entirely derivative and owed practically everything to Lind's earlier work, the founding father of naval and maritime medicine, a self-effacing and modest "man of science," who never courted the limelight. See Paul Lovejoy Lovejoy, Paul E. 2006. Autobiography and Memory: Gustavus Vassa, alias Olaudah Equiano, the African. Slavery and Abolition, 27(3): 317–47. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], "GustavusVassa and the Scottish Enlightenment," paper presented at American Historical Association, Annual Meeting, New York, 2 January 2009. Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 42, May 1772, incorrectly identified Charles Irving as "the same who invented the marine chair some years ago." However, as Ann Savours has shown, the Board of Longitude papers identify the inventor as Christopher Irving. Savours Savours, Ann. 1984. "A Very Interesting Point of Geography' – the 1773 Phipps Expedition towards the North Pole". In Louis Rey Unveiling the Arctic, Edited by: Rey, Louis. 402–28. Calgary: The Arctic Institute of North America. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "Phipps Expedition towards the North Pole," 402–28.Carretta mistakenly accepted the error of the Gentleman's Magazine; see Equiano the African, 137. 37. As Bugg observes, "Might "Gustavus Weston" have been Charles Gustavus Weston, of Brompton, whose son of the same name would ascend to the rank of captain? Or might Gustavus Weston have been the Gustavus Westman who was later prosecuted in Lancashire? Could Gustavus Weston/ Feston have been the soldier Gustavus Denniston?" See "Olaudah Equiano's Public Book Tour," 1425. 38. Vassa, Interesting Narrative, 79. 39. Vassa, Interesting Narrative, 64. 40. Sweet Sweet , James H. " Mistaken Identities? Olaudah Equiano, Domingos Álvares, and the Methodological Challenges of Studying the African Diaspora ." American Historical Review 114 2009 : 279 – 306 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "Mistaken Identities?" 303, suggests that Vassa's reference to Libya in describing people of his own "nation" disproves the contention that Equiano was purchasing slaves from the Bight of Biafra. Vassa clearly uses the term "Libya" as a substitute for Africa and Ethiopia, however, and not as a point of embarkation. In fact, most ships arriving in Jamaica at the time in question came from the Bight of Biafra. 41. Vassa, Interesting Narrative, 221–2. 42. Cited in Carretta, Equiano, the African, 3. 43. National Archives, London, PROB/10/3372 CF/2236. 44. Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, 20 February 1796, and cited in Carretta, Equiano, the African, 363. 45. Osborne Osborne, Angelina. 2007. Equiano's Daughter: The Life of & Times of Joanna Vassa, London: KrikKrak. [Google Scholar], Equiano's Daughter, 11. 46. The Ipswich Journal, 21 March 1857. 47. The various letters are widely scattered, many published in Carretta, Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, however by no means all. Also see Shyllon, Black People in Britain, 244–71. Arthur Torrington Torrington , Arthur . " Biography and History: The Debate over Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative " ( unpublished paper, American Historical Association, Annual Meeting , New York , January 2 , 2009 ). [Google Scholar], Vincent Carretta, and John Bugg have discovered further correspondence, most of which has been conveniently combined in Sapoznik, "Letters and Other Writings of Gustavus Vassa." 48. For a discussion of when recognition of "Africa" became important in the discourse of people of African desent in the Anglophone diaspora, see Sidbury, Becoming African in America, 38–40. Sidbury notes that identification with Africa became a common element in the formation of self help associations and institutions, but also the use of the term "Africa" was used in recognition of birth in Africa. 49. Dickson, Letters on Slavery. Dickson was a subscriber to Equiano'sNarrative. 50. See The Cambridge Chronicle and Journal; and General Advertiser for The Counties of Cambridge, Huntingdon, Lincoln, Rutland, Bedford, Herts, Isle of Ely, &c., 1 August 1789, "Your humble Servant, GUSTAVUS VASSA, The African. CAMBRIDGE, 30 July 1789;" Sheffield Register, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, & Nottinghamshire Universal Advertiser, 27 August 1790, "GUSTAVUS VASA, the free African, now in Sheffield—his manners polished, his mind enlightened, and in every respect on a par with Europeans;" The Manchester Mercury, & Harrop's General Advertiser, August 31, 1790, "I am, Gentlemen, Your obedient humble Servant, GUSTAVUS VASA, THE AFRICAN, Manchester, August 18. 1790; while the Newcastle Chronicle and Newcastle Courant, 6 October 1792, both print "GUSTAVUS VASSA; the AFRICAN, Newcastle, 4 October 1792." On 15 March 1794, the Norfolk Chronicle published a letter from "GUSTAVUS VASSA, the AFRICAN. To the Inhabitants of this City and Its Environs, And also ofBury St. Edmund." 51. Hoare Hoare, Prince. 1820. Memoirs of Granville Sharp, Esq. Composed from his Own Manuscripts and Other Authentic Documents in the Possession of his Family and of the African Institution, London: Henry Colburn. [Google Scholar], Memoirs of Granville Sharp. 52. Vassa to Sharp, 6 May 1780. 53. The article also charged that William Wilberforce, Henry Thornton and William Thornton were "concerned in settling the island of Bulam in Sugar Plantations; of course their interests clash with those of the present Planters and hence their clamour against the Slave Trade." See The Oracle, 25 April 1792, and the discussion in Carretta, Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, 237. For the attack in the Star, see ibid., 238. 54. Vassa to Thomas Hardy, Edinburgh, May 28, 1792, National Archives, London, TS 24/12/2, and reprinted in Carretta, Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, 361–62. 55. The passage was addressed "To the Reader;" see Carretta, Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, 5. 56. Vassa, The Interesting Narrative, 38. It should be noted that Carey reaches the astonishing conclusion that Vassa could have learned such details from anyone from Africa, as if Africa was one country. According to Carey, the few details in the African sequences that could not be found in published accounts are vague and generalized and could easily have been supplied by Equiano's African friends and acquaintances. We should remember that there were thousands of people of African birth or descent living in London in the 1780s, and there is no reason why Equiano could not have simply asked one of them for some information on the African interior. See Carey, "Olaudah Equiano: African or American?" 241. There is no evidence that he learned the meaning of his own name, the name of his home town, or the practice of ichi scarification and ritual circumcision from anything he had read or from anyone he had met. 57. Benezet, Some Historical Account of Guinea. Benezet quoted at length various European observations of western Africa, but nothing on the interior of the Bight of Biafra, skipping from the Kingdom of Benin to Kongo and Angola in his descriptions and reports. He quotes some information on Barbados that presumably Vassa could have used, but not on his homeland. Of course, Vassa incorporated generalized and romanticized visions of Africa that he acquired in reading Benezet and other sources. While these descriptions may have influenced Vassa's in what he wrote, the geographical descriptions are in fact reasonably accurate and reflect what Vassa would have remembered. In paraphrasing "authorities," it seems to me that Vassa was only reinforcing what he had seen and experienced. 58. The Oracle, 25 April 1792. 59. Gøbel Gøbel , Erik. " Foreign Influence upon the Danish Edict of 1792 to Abolish the Slave Trade ." Unpublished paper presented at the Conference L'Impact de l'Abolition de la Traite par la Grande-Bretagne sur les discours nationaux en France, aux Etats-Unis, au Danemark, en Espagne, au Portugal et aux Pays-Bas (métropole et colonies). Paris, Jun 11–12 , 2009 . [Google Scholar], "Foreign Influence upon the Danish Edict of 1792 to Abolish the Slave Trade." John Bugg also notes the influence of Danish abolition on the timing of Wilberforce's motion; see "Equiano's Public Book Tour," 1434. 60. Gøbel Gøbel, Erik. 2001. "The Danish Edict of 16th March 1792 to Abolish the Slave Trade". In Orbis in Orbem Liber Amicorum John Everaer, Edited by: Parmentier, Jan and Spanoghe, Sander. 251–63. Ghent: Academia Press. [Google Scholar], "Danish Edict to Abolish the Slave Trade," 262. 61. See the discussion in Linebaugh Linebaugh, Peter and Rediker, Marcus. 2000. The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic, Boston: Beacon Press. [Google Scholar] and Rediker, Many-Headed Hydra, 334–41. 62. Reprinted in Bugg Bugg , John. " The Sons of Belial': Olaudah Equiano in 1794 ." Times Literary Supplement , August 1 , 2008 13 , [Google Scholar], "'Sons of Belial'," 15. 63. Ramsay Ramsay , James . An Inquiry into the Effects of Putting a Stop to the African Slave Trade and of Granting Liberty to the Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies . London : James Phillips , 1784 . [Google Scholar], Putting a Stop to the African Slave Trade. For a discussion see Shyllon, James Ramsay. 64. For the Zong affair, see Walvin, Zong. According to Granville Sharp Sharp , Granville . " An Account of the Murder of 132 Negro Slaves on Board the Ship Zong, or Zung, with Some Remarks on the Argument of an Eminent Lawyer in Defence of that Inhuman Transaction ." British Library, Ms . 1783 . [Google Scholar], "An Account of the Murder of 132 Negro Slaves on board the Ship Zong, or Zung, with some Remarks on the argument of an eminent Lawyer in defence of that inhuman Transaction" (British Library, Ms. 1783), on 19 March 1783, "Gustavus Vasa, a Negro, called on me, with an account of one hundred and thirty Negroes being thrown alive into the sea, from on board and English slave ship;" see Hoare, Memoirs of Granville Sharp, 236–41. The murders had been committed in December 1781. 65. In addition to Braidwood, Black Poor and White Philanthropists and Shyllon, Black People in Britain, see Gerzina Gerzina, Gretchen. 1995. Black London: Life before Emancipation, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. [Google Scholar], Black London, 133–64; and Fryer Fryer, Peter. 1984. Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain, London: Pluto Press. [Google Scholar], Staying Power, 191–214. 66. Braidwood Braidwood, Stephen J. 1994. Black. Poor and White Philanthropists: London's Blacks and the Foundation of the Sierra Leone Settlement, 1786–1791, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Black Poor and White Philanthropists; Shyllon Shyllon, Folarin. 1977. James Ramsay, the Unknown Abolitionist, Edinburgh: Cannongate. [Google Scholar] , Black People in Britain, 150–58; and Wilson Wilson, Ellen Gibson. 1980. John Clarkson and the African Adventure, London: Macmillan. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], John Clarkson and the AfricanAdventure. 67. For the importance of identification as "African" in the British Atlantic world in this period, see Sidbury Sidbury, James. 2007. Becoming African in America: Race and Nation in the Early Black Atlantic, New York: Oxford University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Becoming African in America. 68. See Gates, Classic Slave Narratives and Gates, Signifying Monkey and Andrews, To Tell a Free Story. For contrast, see Edwards Edwards, Paul. 1962. Embrenché and Ndichie. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 2(3): 401–2. [Google Scholar] and Walvin Walvin, James. 2011. The Zong, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. [Google Scholar] , Black Personalities in the Era of the Slave Tradeand Shyllon Shyllon, Folarin. 1977. Black People in Britain, 1555–1833, New York: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar], Black People in Britain. Elsewhere, I have argued that Vassa's account should be considered a "freedom narrative" rather than a "slave narrative;" see Lovejoy Lovejoy, Paul E. 2011. Freedom Narratives of Trans-Atlantic Slavery. Slavery and Abolition, 32(1): 91–107. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "Freedom Narratives of Trans-Atlantic Slavery," 91–107. 69. See Walvin Walvin, James. 1998. An African's Life: The Life and Times of Olaudah Equiano, 1745–1797, London: Cassell. [Google Scholar], An African's Life; and Shyllon Shyllon, Folarin. 1977. Olaudah Equiano: Nigerian Abolitionist and First National Leader of Africans in Britain. Journal of African Studies, 4(4): 433–51. [Google Scholar], Black People in Britain, chapter on Equiano. 70. The importance of circumcision in Vassa's Interesting Narrative has been drawn to my attention by Karl Magnuson, who has undertaken a history of circumcision and British attitudes towards the practice. I am indebted to Rodrigo Barahona, whose first year essay, "Equiano Equiano , Olaudah . Equiano's Travels. His Autobiography: The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African , Paul Edwards , African Writers Series 10 . London : Heinemann , 1967 . [Google Scholar]'s Early Life: True or False?" (His 101/Eng 262, 13 October 2010, University of Wisconsin, Marinette), is based on a discussion of how Vassa portrays circumcision in The Interesting Narrative. 71. Karl Magnuson, Circumcised Mind: the Dark Side of the Anglo-American Myth (forthcoming). I wish to thank Dr. Magnuson for allowing me to read his manuscript and for our discussions of Vassa and circumcision. Also see Darby Darby, Robert. 2005. A Surgical Temptation: The Demonization of the Foreskin and the Rise of Circumcision in Britain, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Surgical Temptation, 22–43. 72. Watson, "What's in a Name?" 96, 102. 73. Watson Watson, Julia. 1994. What's in a Name? Heteroglossic Naming as Multicultural Practice in American Autobiography. Prose Studies, 17(1): 95–119. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], "What's in a Name?" 99. 74. Gates Gates, Henry Louis Jr. 1988. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism, New York: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar], Signifying Monkey, 87.