Talk:Slave narrative

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Question about authors
Is this just for US authors? Because Isabel Allende has a fictional novel called La Isla Bajo el Mar that tell the tale of a slave-girl called Zarite, from the moment she is bought by Violette Boisier to be sold to Touluse Valmorain passing through the journey she has to make with her master to New Orleans, to the moment where she is freed. I have the novel in Spanish, which is the original language. But I don't want to add it without knowing if I can. Thank you. --189.173.5.130 (talk) 04:11, 24 February 2014 (UTC)
 * No, it's not specific to the United States, but it is primarily focused on non-fiction, biographical accounts of slaves. There is a section, though, for Neo-slave narratives for novels that seems fitting.-- CaroleHenson  ( talk ) 15:42, 24 February 2014 (UTC)

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Focus too narrow?
Is the focus of this article too narrow? We seem to mention captivity narratives from people who were not slaves, but leave out mention of narratives, real or fictional, of many kinds of people who arguably were or are various kinds of slaves (including some categories, such as white indentured servants, where it currently seems 'politically incorrect' to argue that they were slaves or that their owners would be prosecuted as slave-owners if they behaved that way today, other categories that are unarguably slaves, and perhaps other categories where it may now be 'politically correct' to argue that they are slaves, such as various kinds of sex workers). This would include slaves in the ancient and medieval world, serfs, indentured servants, African Americans reportedly illegally kept in slavery for many decades after emancipation, various kinds of contemporary 'sex slaves' and other trafficked people and other such contemporary people defined as various kinds of 'modern-day slaves' by organisations such as the Anti-Slavery Society (we do mention a few such contemporary slaves in the Sudan, but the modern slavery article shows the subject is much broader than that), alleged victims of the alleged 20th century 'White Slave Trade', victims of Nazi, Soviet, and other slave labour camps, perhaps even most employees (defined as 'wage slaves' by Marxists), and so on. I don't know what the so-called Reliable Sources have to say about any of this, and, per WP:NOTCOMPULSORY and WP:BNO, I'm not sufficiently interested to try to find out myself. But I thought it possibly worth raising the question, as it seems quite likely that this article can be improved if other more interested editors try to find out what, if anything, various reliable sources have to say on some of these aspects of the subject.Tlhslobus (talk) 12:27, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

rough work 22:06, 30 December 2019 (UTC)

 * 1) Phyllis Wheatley
 * 2) Jacob Capitein
 * 3) Anton Wilhelm Amo
 * 4) Francis Williams (poet)
 * 5) Ignatius Sancho
 * 6) Benjamin Drew

Ruete, Emily

 * Ruete, Emily. Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar. United States, Dover Publications, 2009.

&#32;Bookku, &#39;Encyclopedias are for expanding information and knowledge&#39; (talk) 06:36, 23 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Fascinating as the book is, it's no slave narrative. The author was the daughter of the sultan (and a racist), she held black and white persons as slaves. --Rsk6400 (talk) 07:31, 23 August 2021 (UTC)

I came across this reference to the controversy you seem to/may be referring to. (updating comment on 7 Sept 2021).

Thanks for your response. First of all don't worry I just temporarily noted down to not forget the book name myself. More over there is no question of supporting racist or aristocratic side. Rather on totally opposite side I have been working on Draft:Avret Esir Pazarları an article about non-elite common women slavery in Ottoman times. (I wish and request you join expanding article Draft:Avret Esir Pazarları) I hope your visit to the article Draft:Avret Esir Pazarları will help avoiding misunderstanding.

Actually I was looking for (non-elite) slave narratives or folk literature of Circassian women, if you know any may be you can help me out. Today I came across Ruete's memoir, which I read only for relevant page for my purpose page number 9 and 10 which discusses kidnapping and enslavement of her Circassian mother as follows.


 * "...My mother was a Circassian by birth, who in early youth had been torn away from her home. Her father had been a farmer, and she had always lived peacefully with her parents and her little brother and sister. War broke out suddenly, and the country was overrun by marauding bands ; on their approach the family fled into an underground place, as my mother called it — she probably meant a cellar, which is not known in Zanzibar. Their place of refuge was, however, invaded by a merciless horde, the parents were slain, and the children carried off by three mounted Arnauts. One of these, with her elder brother, soon disappeared out of sight; the other two, with my mother and her little sister, three years old, crying bitterly for her mother, kept together until evening,when they too parted, and my mother never heard any more of the lost ones as long as she lived.


 * She came into my father's possession when quite a child, probably at the tender age of seven or eight years, as she cast her first tooth in our house..."
 * Translation from books original language German as available on archive.org There is a minor difference in translation available on Google books.

Since there is over all lack of (non-elite) slave narratives or folk literature of Circassian women; Ruete's description of kidnapping and enslavement of her mother becomes closest available testimony. Until Ruete's mother did not get sold to her father she was a common (non-elite) slave but purchasing by Ruete's father made her an elite slave (concubine) later. Since later part of Ruete's mother is elite there is not much point in including her observations in my article Draft:Avret Esir Pazarları. Ruete's mother was not part of  Ottoman Imperial Harem so we can not include the above mentioned part of testimony there. Nor it fits properly in Slave narrative being not a direct slave narrative but just narrative from Slave's child. So I temporarily made a mention on this talk page for my own memory.

May be we can take note of the testimony @ Concubinage or History of slavery in the Muslim world, you can suggest I am not in any hurry to take a call on this. Anyways meanwhile pl. come and join me in expanding article Draft:Avret Esir Pazarları

Thanks and warm regards

&#32;Bookku, &#39;Encyclopedias are for expanding information and knowledge&#39; (talk) 13:36, 23 August 2021 (UTC)


 * One latest ref on issue in Germany
 * Neumann, Klaus. " Black Lives Matter, a Princess from Zanzibar, Bismarck, and German Memorial Hygiene". German Politics and Society 40.1 (2022): 77-103. < https://doi.org/10.3167/gps.2022.400105>. Web. 29 Mar. 2022.

&#32;Bookku, &#39;Encyclopedias &#61; expanding information &#38; knowledge&#39; (talk) 05:17, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

Potential violation of NPOV in article intro
In the third paragraph of the introduction of the article, 'Given the problem of international contemporary slavery in the 20th and 21st centuries, additional slave narratives are being written and published', I think the text highlighted in bold seems to imply a negative evaluative judgement in Wikipedia's voice. This would be a violation of Wikipedia's NPOV policy of neutrally describing events and not giving any evaluation in its own voice. Should the quoted paragraph be rewritten in a more neutral tone or am I misinterpreting it? Factthinker (talk) 20:04, 2 November 2022 (UTC)


 * From WP:NPOV: means representing fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without editorial bias, all the significant views that have been published by reliable sources on a topic. Are there any "significant views" NOT describing contemporary slavery as a problem ? Maybe describing it as a "positive good" ? Rsk6400 (talk) 20:41, 2 November 2022 (UTC)

Olaudah Equiano's Account in wrong category?
Olaudah Equiano's slave narrative is listed under the section 'Tales of religious redemption'. I have not read The Interesting Narrative so I can't comment on whether that is a theme in it, but Equiano is one of the most famous of British abolitionists and certainly the most famous black abolitionist. I'm pretty sure his account was a 'Tale to inspire the abolitionist movement'. At present the impression is given that no slave narratives were written to inspire the abolition movement until 1825, which I'm pretty sure is totally wrong. LastDodo (talk) 09:47, 18 April 2024 (UTC)