Thieving Three-Fingered Jack: Transatlantic Tales of a Jamaican Outlaw, 1780-2015 (Critical Caribbean Studies)

Thieving Three-Fingered Jack: Transatlantic Tales of a Jamaican Outlaw, 1780-2015 (Critical Caribbean Studies)

Frances R. Botkin
$46.74
Publication Date: December 31st, 2017
Publisher:
Rutgers University Press
ISBN:
9780813587387
Pages:
240

Description

The fugitive slave known as “Three-Fingered Jack” terrorized colonial Jamaica from 1780 until vanquished by Maroons, self-emancipated Afro-Jamaicans bound by treaty to police the island for runaways and rebels.  A thief and a killer, Jack was also a freedom fighter who sabotaged the colonial machine until his grisly death at its behest. Narratives about his exploits shed light on the problems of black rebellion and solutions administered by the colonial state, creating an occasion to consider counter-narratives about its methods of divide and conquer. For more than two centuries, writers, performers, and storytellers in England, Jamaica, and the United States have “thieved" Three Fingered Jack's riveting tale, defining black agency through and against representations of his resistance.

Frances R. Botkin offers a literary and cultural history that explores the persistence of stories about this black rebel, his contributions to constructions of black masculinity in the Atlantic world, and his legacies in Jamaican and United States popular culture.

About the Author

FRANCES R. BOTKIN is a professor of English at Towson University in Maryland. 

Praise for Thieving Three-Fingered Jack: Transatlantic Tales of a Jamaican Outlaw, 1780-2015 (Critical Caribbean Studies)

"Finally, the study of Obi for which we’ve been waiting: one that moves across not just historical periods but also language, culture, and media. In Thieving Three-Fingered Jack, Frances Botkin gives us an extraordinary study for understanding transatlantic literary relations. Few figures possess the necessary power to illuminate a region or an era, but Jack Mansong — especially in Professor Botkin’s hands — proves such a vehicle."
 
— Michael Gamer

"With its seamless blending of disciplinary methods, Thieving Three-Fingered Jack explains how a fugitive slave became a transatlantic legend. Botkin moves transhistorically and transnationally to describe how Jack became a fictional and theatrical icon. In the process, she highlights the many insights made possible when folklore and literary studies converge."
 
— Daphne Lamothe

"[Thieving Three-Fingered Jack: Transatlantic Tales of a Jamaican Outlaw] discusses plays and songs written about Jack Mansong, an escaped slave turned bandit who came to be revered as a freedom fighter in Jamaica for his attacks on colonial planters."
— Chronicle

Forthcoming African American Studies Titles, 2018: A list of the latest and soon-to-be-released publications through October 2018.
— Choice

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