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Arbitrary Rule – Slavery, Tyranny, and the Power of Life and Death
Author(s): Mary Nyquist (Author)
- Publisher: University of Chicago Press
- Publication Date: 4 Jun. 2013
- Language: English
- Print length: 440 pages
- ISBN-10: 022601553X
- ISBN-13: 9780226015538
Book Description
Slavery appears as a figurative construct in countless cultural and historical contexts, especially during the English revolution of the mid-seventeenth century, and again in the American and French revolutions, when radical pamphleteers and theorists repeatedly represented their treatment as a form of political slavery. What, if anything, does this figurative, political slavery have to do with transatlantic slavery? In “Arbitrary Rule”, Mary Nyquist explores connections between political and chattel slavery by excavating the tradition of Western political thought that justifies actively opposing tyranny. Political slavery, whether civil or national, Nyquist shows, is frequently paired with its antagonist, political tyranny. “Arbitrary Rule” is the first book to tackle political slavery’s discursive complexity, engaging Eurocolonialism, political philosophy, and literary studies, areas of study too often kept apart. She argues that “antityranny discourse” provided members of a “free” community with a means of protesting a threatened reduction of privileges, or of consolidating a collective, political identity. Its semantic complexity, however, also enabled it to legitimize racialized enslavement and imperial expansion. Throughout, Nyquist demonstrates how principles relating to political slavery and tyranny are bound up with a Roman jurisprudential doctrine that sanctions the power of life and death held by the slaveholder over slaves and, by extension, the state over its citizenry.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Arbitrary Rule is a remarkable book. It displays an impressive command of early modern literature and political thought and operates at a very high level of engagement and originality. It abounds in new perceptions and genuinely transforms the landscape of the period. I have no doubt that it will become a central focus of discussion for many years to come.” (David Norbrook, University of Oxford)”
About the Author
Mary Nyquist is professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Toronto.
