“I Whitened My Face,That They Might Not Know Me”

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to explore the process of racial adaptation to the image of the Other—of the “White Mask” that is adopted by the Black man—as it is revealed in one of the most famous early slave autobiographies: Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself. Over the years, critics have reiterated the historic, documentary significance of Equiano's work. The author instead looks more critically at the contradictions in racial consciousness—alienation and identification—that Equiano's self-portrayal tries to resolve. He also argues that Equiano's condition of psychological dualism corresponds to what Frantz Fanon, in his seminal work Black Skin, White Masks, sees as a denial of the Black self and adoption of the false racial identity of the White Other.

Keywords

Olaudah Equiano slave narrative Frantz Fanon White Mask race identity alienation identification

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Baker, H.A., Jr. (2001). Figurations for a new American literary history . In O. Equiano , The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, written by himself ( W. Sollors , Ed.) (pp. 339-347). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1789)

BhaBha, H. (1994). Of mimicry and man: The ambivalence of colonial discourse. In P. Rice & P. Waugh (Eds.), Modern literary theory: A reader (pp. 234-241). London: Edward Arnold.

Blackburn, R. (1997). The making of new world slavery. London: Verso.

Carretta, V. (2005). Equiano the African: Biography of a self-made man. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

Edwards, P. (1969). Introduction. In P. Edwards (Ed.), Equiano's travels: The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African (pp. vii-xix). Oxford, UK: Heinemann.

Equiano, O. (2001). The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, written by himself ( W. Sollors , Ed.). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1789)

Fanon, F. (1986). Black skin, White masks (C. L. Markmann, Trans.) . London: Pluto Press. (Original work published 1952)

Gibson, N.C. (2003). Fanon: The postcolonial imagination. Cambridge, UK: Polity.

Harding, V. (1981). There is a river: The Black struggle for freedom in America. New York: Vintage Books .

10.

Hochschild, A. (2006). Bury the chains: The British struggle to abolish slavery. London: Pan Books.

11.

Kaye, M. (2005). 1807-2007: Over 200 years of campaigning against slavery. London: AntiSlavery International .

12.

Macey, D. (2000). Frantz Fanon: A life. London : Granta.

13.

Morrison, T. (1998). The site of memory. In W. Zinsser (Ed.), Inventing the truth: The art and craft of memoir (pp. 183-200). New York: Houghton Mifflin.

14.

Murphy, G. (2001). Olaudah Equiano, accidental tourist. In O. Equiano , The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, written by himself ( W. Sollors , Ed.) (pp. 368-382). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1789)

15.

Sartre, J.-P. (1971). Preface. In F. Fanon , The wretched of the earth (pp. 7-26). Harmondsworth , UK: Penguin.

16.

Young, L. (2001). "Race," identity and cultural criticism. In K. K. Bhavnani (Ed.), Feminism and "race." Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.