‘A Limited Sort of Property’: History, Memory and the Slave ShipZong

Abstract

The jettisoning of 132 Africans from the slave ship Zong in order to claim on an insurance policy provided an iconic narrative of horror for the earliest British abolition campaigns. The story has continued to resonate as it relays between history and memory in relation to the legacy of transatlantic slavery. This article discusses the role of the Zong in shaping the 2007 bicentenary commemorations, the black Atlantic literary tradition and the campaign for reparations in order to address the interface between trauma and healing, on the one hand, and political critique and material redress, on the other.

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