Anti-slavery and sentimentalism in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko

Resumen

Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko (1688) has been sometimes considered an ambiguous novel as far as the transmission of anti-slavery messages is concerned. It is our contention here that the novel contains a clear indictment against slavery which subverts the necessity of ‘europeanising’ the native otherness of the slaves in order to make them socially acceptable within a white European background. Behn’s politicised sentimentalism is aimed at dignifying African otherness in its own. A key feature of her sentimental discourse is the use of physiognomy. Physiognomy, based on the idea that body language communicates a sincerity before which alienating imperialist discourses resign, ignores the duality racial superiority/racial inferiority and bridges the dehumanised separation between white readers and black characters.