Submitted by B. Mark Allen on Wed, 12/21/2011 - 5:33pm
Presentation Title:
Indians, ETs, and Stronger White Men: Captivity as Masculinity-Enhancer in John Gyles' "Narrative" and Jim Sparks The Keepers
My paper will compare the 18th-century captivity narrative of the 18th-century New England colonial young man John Gyles with the contemporary UFO captivity narratives of Jim Sparks. I will examine how each male narrator constructs his subjectivity as stronger, smarter, and more authoritative as a result of his extraordinary experiences. Unlike the captivity narratives of so many women, both Gyles and Sparks use their experiences to become mediators between white culture and the Other.
Social Writing: The Reshaping of Identity in The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano
In his autobiographical text, The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself, Equiano emulates the white captors who originally appear as monstrous, cannibalistic creatures to him. Although he maintains an inner connection to his African roots, he separates himself from his African brethren who he must think of as cargo. Amidst his cultural separation between blackness and whiteness, Olaudah Equiano fashions himself in the guise of his oppressor.
Submitted by B. Mark Allen on Sun, 12/11/2011 - 3:52pm
Presentation Title:
"Meals that Horrified:" Captive Tales of Ritual Cannabalism
In keeping with the conference's overall theme of food, this paper will introduce the taboo subject of cannabalism in the context of early modern captivity tales. In the process, I will relate the psychological importance of food and its role in human bondage.
Submitted by Alan Smith on Sat, 12/10/2011 - 11:18am
Presentation Title:
Oh Green Chillie Sauce
The subject of this paper is food in prison and how it relates to well-being. My material is drawn from conversations with serving prisoners and former prisoners. My paper is written, as is common in captivity narratives, using the techniques of fiction, memoir and journalism and will include some further reflections on how these techniques influence what we often come to regard as knowledge.
Life in the World that Does Not Exist: Uses of the Surreal in Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz
In Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi documents his struggle to survive the Holocaust, while descending into a perceptual state of surreality. Due to the brutal conditions of camp life, consciousness, as represented by Levi, is stripped of its capacity to defer the insistent compulsion to recognize its own mortality.
