Browsing by Author "Pasierowska, Rachael Lindsay"

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    Introduction: “Beasts, Birds, and Bondsmen: Animal and Slave Interactions in Atlantic World Slavery.”
    (2021-04-28) Pasierowska, Rachael Lindsay; Sidbury, James; Slenes, Robert W.
    Across the Atlantic world, communities had close relationships with the animal world both tangibly and intangibly. From West Africa to Central-West and Central Africa, peoples responded to animals in both similar and dissimilar ways. In the Americas, European and Native Americans held their own respective beliefs and interactions with the animal world. Each of these societies attributed some level of cultural recognition to animals representing a central theme as to how people would later respond to animals when pushed together in the Americas. Enslaved Africans brought with them a multitude of cultural beliefs and understandings of animals. So too did European colonists and migrants. To complete this transatlantic triangle, Native Americans had their own beliefs and cosmologies where animals were very present. As these different peoples came together through transatlantic slavery, we see a merging of multiple beliefs, cosmologies, and perceptions. Herein lies the secondary aim of this study: to test and apply contested theories of creolization and cultural transferral. This approach allows one to look deeper at the interactions between cultures not only from across various African ethnicities, but also from Europeans and Native Americans where possible. Through incorporation of the three slave societies of America, Brazil, and Cuba, I am better able to address similarities and differences can be more easily addressed with respect to geographical scales. A primary finding is that in the societies of America and Brazil, indigenous peoples shared many similar beliefs with enslaved Africans regarding animals. Second, this dissertation shows how sometimes, Native Americans and Africans came together, which resulted in the formation of Afro-American cultures displaying a triadic portrayal of cultural evolution. This contrasts to the often-dyadic depiction on which scholars have hitherto concentrated their research. Finally, it is shown that Cuba housed a much more multi-ethnic African composite of cultural identity. Animal and enslaved Africans interactions provide a case study through which to speak to the multiple complex cultural formations during the era of transatlantic slavery.