Mediterranean Institute Seminars
Understanding Atrocity in the Slave Trade: the case of the Zong
Speaker: Dr Jeremy Krikler (Essex)
Tuesday 9 May 2017 at 17:30
Mediterranean Institute (Ir-Razzett tal-Ħursun)
Abstract
The focus is on one of the single most extreme events in the Atlantic slave trade: the deliberate murder of over 130 slaves at sea in 1781 and the later attempt to claim insurance on them, a claim initially upheld in the English courts and then called into question in the infamous Zong trials of 1783. The argument is that the extremity of this seemingly exceptional event arose quite logically from the rationale and from the working and professional practices of the slave trade, including the particular use that it made of the medical profession. Krikler argues that the event, far from being of only historical significance, has a bearing upon our understanding of modern atrocity.
The focus is on one of the single most extreme events in the Atlantic slave trade: the deliberate murder of over 130 slaves at sea in 1781 and the later attempt to claim insurance on them, a claim initially upheld in the English courts and then called into question in the infamous Zong trials of 1783. The argument is that the extremity of this seemingly exceptional event arose quite logically from the rationale and from the working and professional practices of the slave trade, including the particular use that it made of the medical profession. Krikler argues that the event, far from being of only historical significance, has a bearing upon our understanding of modern atrocity.