Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Open Access Dissertations Theses and Dissertations January 2016 Africa is Always Bringing forth Something New: African Worlds and Worldviews in British Enlightenment Literature, 1660-1780 Rebekah Kurtz Mitsein Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations Recommended Citation Mitsein, Rebekah Kurtz, "Africa is Always Bringing forth Something New: African Worlds and Worldviews in British Enlightenment Literature, 1660-1780" (2016). Open Access Dissertations. 1280. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/1280 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. AFRICA IS ALWAYS BRINGING FORTH SOMETHING NEW: AFRICAN WORLDS AND WORLDVIEWS IN BRITISH ENLIGHTENMENT LITERATURE, 1660-1780 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University by Rebekah K. Mitsein In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2016 Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana ii For Sean ii iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The first stories I ever heard were the ones my mother brought with her out of Ethiopia, where she grew up. This project germinated as I asked her to tell them to me over and over again. I am indebted to my grandfather, who always tried to understand Ethiopia on its own terms, my grandmother the book lover, who insisted on finishing high school, and Kofi Obeng, who first told me Ananse tales long ago. I have carried them with me. My father nurtured my curiosity, and the fact that he gave me the animated Gulliver’s Travels on VHS around the age of 8 is no doubt to blame for my preoccupation with eighteenth-century exploration narratives. I learn astonishing things every day from my spouse, Sean, who has helped me find the key not once but many times. I have been overwhelmed by the intellectual generosity of Laura Engel, Kristina Bross, Christopher Lukasik, and Geraldine Friedman—mentors and committee members who encouraged and inspired me. I didn’t know when I checked a new book about Ethiopia and Samuel Johnson out from the library that the author had long connections iii with both my committee chair and my mother, but I have benefited enormously from Wendy Laura Belcher’s support, whether it was fate that induced her to board this ship or not. I have been grateful for Manushag Powell, who captained it, every leg of the journey: it’s been a privilege. Thank you for all you’ve done for me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 The Local Foundations of Global Knowledge ................................................................ 5 What was Africa to Eighteenth-Century Britons? .......................................................... 7 Worlds and Worldviews in the Age of Enlightenment ................................................. 15 Chapter Overview ......................................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 1: TRANSATLANTIC/TRANS-SAHARA: AFRICAN WORLDS AND DUELING WORLDVIEWS IN APHRA BEHN’S OROONOKO .................................. 28 Geographical Representation in the Early Enlightenment ............................................ 32 Africa in the Geographical Imagination ....................................................................... 40 The Inerasable African Witness .................................................................................... 54 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 59 CHAPTER 2: THE “MOST BARREN, DESOLATE, DESERT, AND INHOSPITABLE COUNTRY IN THE WORLD”: AFRICA’S INTERIOR IN WILLIAM SMITH’S NEW VOYAGE TO GUINEA AND DANIEL DEFOE’S CAPTAIN SINGLETON ................... 69 Epistemological Uncertainty and Indigenous Authority in William Smith’s New Voyage to Guinea .......................................................................................................... 72 European Representations of Africa’s Interior and the Myth of the Silent Traders ..... 87 Mapping the Interior in Captain Singleton ................................................................. 109 iv Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 122 CHAPTER 3: AFRICA’S NEW MONSTERS: SCRIBLERIAN SATIRE AND THE LIMITS OF EARLY NATURALISM............................................................................ 134 Africa’s New Monsters and Early Taxonomy ............................................................ 137 Homo Sylvestris and the Animal-Human Boundary in Concerning the Origin of the Sciences and The Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus ..................................................... 143 Natural History and Racial Difference in Scriblerian Satire ...................................... 155 v Page Crocodile Tears in Three Hours After Marriage ........................................................ 161 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 172 CHAPTER 4: WEST AFRICAN WORLDVIEWS IN THE CONTACT ZONE: AFRICAN REPRESENTATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT TRAVEL WRITING ... 183 Reading African Representation as Philosophical Discourse ..................................... 185 Performances of African Power in Bosman’s New Voyage to Guinea ....................... 203 West African Metaphysics and John Atkins’s Voyage to Africa, Brasil, and the West Indies ........................................................................................................................... 213 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 226 CHAPTER 5: ABYSSINIAN MAIDS AND AFRICAN DISCOURSE IN SAMUEL JOHNSON’S RASSELAS AND JAMES BRUCE’S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE ................................................................................................. 234 Exceptional Women in Habesha Texts ....................................................................... 238 “Local Emotion” and the Quest for Knowledge in Rasselas ...................................... 241 Sheba’s Legacy in James Bruce’s Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile ........... 251 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 263 CODA: LOOKING FORWARD .................................................................................... 272 WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................. 279 VITA ............................................................................................................................... 303 v vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 1: Dürer's Rhinoceros, Albrecht Dürer, 1515 ........................................................ 56 Figure 2: Carte De L'Afrique Francoise ou Du Senegal, 1732 ....................................... 114 Figure 3: Africa, Willem Janszoon Blaeu, 1635 ............................................................. 116 Figure 4: A New Map of Africa from the Latest Observations, John Senex, 1721 ........ 117 Figure 5: Frontispiece to Dell’Historia Naturale, Ferrante Imperato, 1599 ................... 163 Figure 6: Yoruba Armbands, c. 1700 .............................................................................. 190 Figure 7: Sideblown Sapi Trumpet, c. 1500 ................................................................... 194 Figure 8: Crocodile Head Trumpet, c. 1600 ................................................................... 194 Figure 9: Plate from Syntagma Musicum, Michael Praetorius, 1619 ............................. 194 Figure 10: Sapi Trumpet Head, c. 1750 .......................................................................... 195 Figure 11: Benin Bronze, c. 1600 ................................................................................... 199 vi vii ABSTRACT Mitsein, Rebekah K. Ph.D., Purdue University, May 2016. Africa is Always Bringing Forth Something New: African Worlds and Worldviews in British Enlightenment Literature, 1660-1780. Major Professor: Manushag Powell. This dissertation argues that African worlds and worldviews left an indelible mark on British Enlightenment texts, whether their authors encountered the continent first or secondhand. As eighteenth-century thinkers began experimenting with empirical and categorical strategies for making sense of the globe, Africa was an important testing ground for these burgeoning epistemological methodologies. Travelers and writers tried to reconcile observer-based methods of knowledge production with the continent’s reputedly impenetrable landscapes, unfamiliar cultures, and strange animals. Such inquiries engendered broader philosophical debates about the natures of nature, the body, and the self. Yet, I contend Africa was not a passive participant in this process. Not only did African environments undermine European attempts to reduce the continent