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CATEGORIES:Lecture / Talk / Workshop
DESCRIPTION:A discussion of Lindsay O'Neill's new book\, The Two Princes of
  Mpfumo: An Early Eighteenth-Century Journey into and out of Slavery (Unive
 rsity of Pennsylvania Press\, 2025). The author will be joined in conversat
 ion by Catherine Molineux (Vanderbilt University) and Asheesh Siddique (Uni
 versity of Massachusetts Amherst)\, moderated by Peter Mancall (USC). Organ
 ized in partnership with the Van Hunnick History Department and the Early M
 odern Studies Institute. Registration is required. REGISTER HERE\n\n \n\nAb
 out the Book: In 1716 two princes from Mpfumo—what is today Maputo\, the ca
 pital of Mozambique—boarded a ship licensed by the East India Company bound
  for England. Instead\, their perfidious captain sold them into slavery in 
 Jamaica. After two years of pleading their case\, the princes—known in the 
 historical record as Prince James and Prince John—convinced a lawyer to pur
 chase them\, free them\, and travel with them to London. The lawyer perishe
 d when a hurricane wrecked their ship\, but the princes survived and arrive
 d in England in 1720. Even though the East India Company had initially thou
 ght that the princes might assist in their aspirations to develop a trade f
 or gold in East Africa and for enslaved labor in Madagascar\, its interest 
 waned. The princes would need to look elsewhere to return home. It was at t
 his point that members of the Royal African Company and the Society for Pro
 moting Christian Knowledge took up their cause\, in the hope that profit an
 d perhaps Christian souls would follow. John would make it home\, but tragi
 cally\, James would end his own life just before the ship sailed for Africa
 .\n\nIn The Two Princes of Mpfumo\, Lindsay O’Neill brings to life individu
 als caught up in the eighteenth-century slave trade. O’Neill also shows how
  the princes’ experiences reflect the fragmented\, chaotic\, and often dead
 ly realities of the early British empire. A fascinating and deeply research
 ed historical narrative\, The Two Princes of Mpfumo blurs the boundaries be
 tween the Atlantic and Indian ocean worlds\; reveals the intertwined networ
 ks\, powerful individuals\, and unstable knowledge that guided British atte
 mpts at imperial expansion\; and illuminates the power of African polities\
 , which decided who lived and who died on their coasts.\n\n \n\nAbout the A
 uthor: Lindsay O’Neill is Associate Professor (Teaching) of History at the 
 University of Southern California. Her first book\, The Opened Letter: Netw
 orking in the Early Modern British World (University of Pennsylvania Press\
 , 2015)\, explored the way networks formed through letter writing helped bi
 nd together an increasing vast British world during the late seventeenth an
 d early eighteenth centuries.\n\n \n\nOpen to attendants outside of USC. An
  excerpt of the book will be made available to registered attendants. Regis
 tration before the event is required. \n\n \n\nThis event is part of the Le
 van Institute for the Humanities' “Book Chats” series\, conversations about
  new books published by USC scholars in the humanities and humanistic socia
 l sciences. To see more events in this series\, including recordings of pas
 t events\, visit https://dornsife.usc.edu/levan-institute/book-chats/.
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SUMMARY:Levan Book Chat—Lindsay O'Neill\, The Two Princes of Mpfumo
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_47914781688074
URL:https://calendar.usc.edu/event/levan-book-chatlindsay-oneill-the-two-pr
 inces-of-mpfumo
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