VANCOUVER, Wash. 鈥 The American Council of Learned Societies has awarded Sue Peabody, professor of history at Washington State University Vancouver, a research fellowship to complete her book 鈥淪lavery and Emancipation in the Indian Ocean World: A Family Biography.鈥 The $65,000 ACLS fellowship will allow Peabody to write during her 2013-2014 sabbatical leave.
One of 65 scholars to be selected for the fellowship out of more than 1,100 applicants nationwide, Peabody was chosen for her scholarly record, the potential of her project to advance her field of study and the quality of her proposal. Research for this project has already taken Peabody to archives in Paris, London, and the Indian Ocean islands of La R茅union and Mauritius. She will travel this spring to Paris and Aix-en-Provence, France through WSU鈥檚 Edward G. Meyer Professor of Liberal Arts fellowship.
Peabody鈥檚 book collects the life stories of Madeleine鈥攁 woman sold into slavery in 18th century Bengal鈥攁nd her children living in slavery in the French and British colonies of 脦le Bourbon and Mauritius. Using rare historical documents, including letters by Madeleine鈥檚 son, Furcy, Peabody has constructed a historical narrative of the changing world of slavery and freedom from 1750 to 1850.
By focusing on slavery鈥檚 impact on a single family across generations, Peabody鈥檚 biography will encourage readers to consider what enslavement and freedom truly meant and how French culture and emerging forces of global capitalism transformed the societies of the Old World. Most histories of slavery focus on the Atlantic world, but slavery existed in almost all societies until its abolition in the 19th and 20th centuries.
鈥淲hen most Americans think of slavery, they picture 鈥楪one with the Wind鈥 or 鈥楿ncle Tom鈥檚 Cabin.鈥 In fact, slavery existed for thousands of years before Columbus but it was not defined by racial difference until the colonization of the Americas,鈥 said Peabody. 鈥淭his book will put a human face on that experience and allow the reader to consider how modern systems of agriculture transformed labor and society, not only in the Americas, but around the world. It鈥檚 a story about modernization and new ideas about citizenship.鈥
ACLS is the leading private institution supporting scholars in the humanities and social sciences at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels. In 2012, ACLS gave more than $15 million in fellowship stipends and other awards to more than 320 scholars. The ACLS Fellowship is funded through an endowment supported by numerous institutions including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and others.
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MEDIA CONTACTS
Sue Peabody, College of Arts and Sciences, 360-546-9647, speabody@vancouver.wsu.edu
Brenda Alling, Office of Marketing and Communications, 360-546-9601, brenda_alling@vancouver.wsu.edu