Oroonokos' Rape Cultures
Abstract
Abstract: This essay investigates the recurrence of rape and its deployment in Aphra Behn's and Thomas Southerne's Oroonoko s. It seeks to expose how iterative representations of Imoinda provide new possibilities for understanding how sexual violence contributes to formations of race and gender in the period. " Oroonoko s' rape cultures" identifies how the telling and retelling of Oroonoko depicts rape culture as a transnational reality through which sexual violence against enslaved women is normalized, fetishized, and demanded. This essay's comparative approach magnifies Imoinda's vexed positions in both Coromantien and Suriname to address ongoing concerns about rape's simultaneously quotidian and spectacular nature.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Literature: history
themes
analysis
Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies
Colonialism
slavery
and trade
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Eighteenth-Century Studies
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 199–216
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN