The Significance of Meaning Shift of the Word "Slave" in Abolishing Slavery in the United States

• Thesis title in Czech: Důležitost změny významu slova "otrok" pro zrušení otroctví ve Spojených státech amerických
• Thesis title in English: The Significance of Meaning Shift of the Word "Slave" in Abolishing Slavery in the United States
• Key words: Spojené státy americké, zrušení otroctví, černoch, běloch, rasa, význam, analýza promluvy
• English key words: United States, abolition of slavery, blacks, whites, race, meaning, discourse analysis
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2013/2014
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of North American Studies (23-KAS)
• Supervisor: Assistant Professor Gyorgy Toth, PhD.
• Author: hidden - assigned by the advisor
• Date of registration: 30.07.2014
• Date of assignment: 30.07.2014
• Date and time of defence: 10.09.2014 12:00
• Venue of defence: Jinonice
• Date of electronic submission: 30.07.2014
• Date of proceeded defence: 10.09.2014
• Opponents: prof. PhDr. Svatava Raková, CSc.

Preliminary scope of work

Práce se nejprve zaměří na existující interpretace zrušení otroctví ve Spojených státech amerických. Teze čistě definuje svůj teoretický rámce, ve kterém bude dané téma analyzovat - teorie poststrukturalizmu. Práce bude rozdělena do dvou hlavních částí - pro-otrokářský řád a proti-otrokářský řád. V části zaměřené na pro-otrokářský řád budou analyzovány ranné obrazy "černosti" v západní mysli a dále představy o divochovi-zvířeti.V kapitole pojednávajíci o proti-otrokářskému řádu bude teze zkoumat proti-otrokářskou promluvu a diskutovat důležitost změny významu slova otrok pro zrušení otroctví na území Spojených států.

Prameny:
Ashley, R.K. “The Geopolitics of Geopolitical Space: Toward a Critical Social Theory of International Politics,“ Alternatives, 12:4 (1987: Oct), pp. 403-434.

Crawford, N.C. Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics, Decolonization, and Humanitarian Intervention, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp. 1-10, 98-109 and 159-200

Crystal, D. Linguistics, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1972, pp.158-167

Doty, R.L. Imperial Encounters: The Politics of Representation in North-South Relations. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996, pp. 1-19 and 27-49

Douglass, F. The Heroic Slave. In Autographs for Freedom. Boston: John P. Jewett and Company, 1853, pp. 174-239

---.”A Letter to Henry C. Wright, December 22, 1846.” In Foner, P.S. (ed) Frederick
Douglass Selected Speeches and Writings, Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1999, pp. 49-54
Drescher, S. “The End of Slavery n Anglo-America.” In Abolition: A History of Slavery and Antislavery, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 294-332

Laclau, E. and Mouffe, Ch. “Beyond Positivity of the Social: Antagonisms and Hegemony.” In Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics, London: Verso, 2001, pp. 93-148

Lincoln, A. “Emancipation Proclamation,” January 1, 1863.

---. “Letter to Horace Greeley,” August 22, 1862.

McConnaughey, G. “Darwin and Social Darwinism.“ Osiris, Vol. 9, 1950, pp. 397-412

Meyerhoof, M. Introducing Sociolinguistics, Routledge, 2006, pp. 54-80

Morgan, L.H. Ancient Society. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr and Company, 1877, pp. 3-44

Morone, J. A. “The Abolitionist Crusade (1800-1865).” In Hellfire Nation: the Politics of Sin in American History. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003, pp. 119-215

Palmié, Stephan. “A Taste for Human Commodities: Experiencing the Atlantic Systém.” In Palmié, Stephan (ed.) Slave Cultures and the Cultures of Slavery. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press,1995, pp. 40-54

Read, J. “A Geneaology of Homo-Economicus: Neoliberalism and the Production of Subjectivity,” Foucault Studies 6, 2009, pp. 25-36

Simon-Aaron, Ch. The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire, Enlightenment, and the Cult of the Unthinking Negro. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008, pp. i-29

Stephen Jay Gould. “American Polygeny and Craniometry before Darwin.” In The Mismeasure of Man. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1996. pp. 30-72

Stocker, B. (ed) Jacques Derrida: basic writings. Routledge, 2007, pp. 83-104 and 210-234

Takaki, R. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston, New York, Toronto, London: Little, Brown and Company, 1993, pp. 24-75

Thompson, K.D. “Distorted Images in Travel Literature: An Exploration of the Subjugation of Blackness in the Western World.” In Henderson, C.E. (ed) American and the Black Body: Identity Politics in Print and Visual Culture. Cranbury: Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp, 2009, pp. 55-74

Wendt, A. “Anarchy is what States Make of it: The Social Construction of Power Politics,” in International Organization 46(2), 1992, pp. 391-425

Zizek, S. Violence: Six Sideways Reflections. New York: Picador, 2008, pp. 34-62

U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1776.

Preliminary scope of work in English

First of all, the thesis will introduce various existing explanations of what led the United States to abolishing slavery on its territory. The thesis will then clearly define its own theoretical framework in which the given topic is to be examined - the Poststructuralist theory. The thesis will be then divided into two larger chapters: The Slavery Order and The Anti-slavery Order. In chapter The Slavery Order the thesis will provide early images of 'black' existing in the Western mind and those of 'dehumanized savage'. In chapter The Antislavery Order, the thesis will examine the anti-slavery discourse and the meaning shift of the word 'slave'. Finally, the thesis will discuss the significance of this meaning shift for aboliting slavery in the United States.

Sources:
Ashley, R.K. “The Geopolitics of Geopolitical Space: Toward a Critical Social Theory of International Politics,“ Alternatives, 12:4 (1987: Oct), pp. 403-434.

Crawford, N.C. Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics, Decolonization, and Humanitarian Intervention, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp. 1-10, 98-109 and 159-200

Crystal, D. Linguistics, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1972, pp.158-167

Doty, R.L. Imperial Encounters: The Politics of Representation in North-South Relations. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996, pp. 1-19 and 27-49

Douglass, F. The Heroic Slave. In Autographs for Freedom. Boston: John P. Jewett and Company, 1853, pp. 174-239

---.”A Letter to Henry C. Wright, December 22, 1846.” In Foner, P.S. (ed) Frederick
Douglass Selected Speeches and Writings, Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1999, pp. 49-54
Drescher, S. “The End of Slavery n Anglo-America.” In Abolition: A History of Slavery and Antislavery, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 294-332

Laclau, E. and Mouffe, Ch. “Beyond Positivity of the Social: Antagonisms and Hegemony.” In Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics, London: Verso, 2001, pp. 93-148

Lincoln, A. “Emancipation Proclamation,” January 1, 1863.

---. “Letter to Horace Greeley,” August 22, 1862.

McConnaughey, G. “Darwin and Social Darwinism.“ Osiris, Vol. 9, 1950, pp. 397-412

Meyerhoof, M. Introducing Sociolinguistics, Routledge, 2006, pp. 54-80

Morgan, L.H. Ancient Society. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr and Company, 1877, pp. 3-44

Morone, J. A. “The Abolitionist Crusade (1800-1865).” In Hellfire Nation: the Politics of Sin in American History. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003, pp. 119-215

Palmié, Stephan. “A Taste for Human Commodities: Experiencing the Atlantic Systém.” In Palmié, Stephan (ed.) Slave Cultures and the Cultures of Slavery. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press,1995, pp. 40-54

Read, J. “A Geneaology of Homo-Economicus: Neoliberalism and the Production of Subjectivity,” Foucault Studies 6, 2009, pp. 25-36

Simon-Aaron, Ch. The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire, Enlightenment, and the Cult of the Unthinking Negro. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008, pp. i-29

Stephen Jay Gould. “American Polygeny and Craniometry before Darwin.” In The Mismeasure of Man. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1996. pp. 30-72

Stocker, B. (ed) Jacques Derrida: basic writings. Routledge, 2007, pp. 83-104 and 210-234

Takaki, R. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston, New York, Toronto, London: Little, Brown and Company, 1993, pp. 24-75

Thompson, K.D. “Distorted Images in Travel Literature: An Exploration of the Subjugation of Blackness in the Western World.” In Henderson, C.E. (ed) American and the Black Body: Identity Politics in Print and Visual Culture. Cranbury: Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp, 2009, pp. 55-74

Wendt, A. “Anarchy is what States Make of it: The Social Construction of Power Politics,” in International Organization 46(2), 1992, pp. 391-425

Zizek, S. Violence: Six Sideways Reflections. New York: Picador, 2008, pp. 34-62

U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1776.