Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2022
Abstract
The shallow phenomenon of moral performativity is consistently prevalent from the abolitionist movement of the eighteenth-century, to the Black Lives Matter movement of the twenty-firstcentury. Olaudah Equiano’s extraordinary abolitionist text, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, investigates and utilizes this phenomenon as he offers readers across centuries the opportunity to recognize the tenacious inequality which Black people face, as well as the paradoxical value that moral performativity provides. Through a close reading of Equiano’s religious argument, as well as his sentimental family scene, it may be recognized how egoism has the potential to unite with sentimentalism, and thus, may result in profound affective responses that lead to public displays of support among audiences. In the context of Equiano’s narrative, this essay deconstructs and compares eighteenth-century and contemporary moral ideologies and egoism in relation to social injustice. Further, this essay contemplates the perpetual racist misconstructions concerning Black affect, and the selfish incentives that may function to obstruct social progress. Predominantly, in this essay, I ponder whether audience engagement in moral performativity may alter social norms surrounding racial inequality, and thereby, successfully advance pertinent anti-racism movements.