Theory of Slavery as a Kind of Social Death
The Orlando theory of slavery as a social death is among the first and major type of full scale comparative study that is attached to different slavery aspects. In his work which is capable of drawing on one of the most fundamental tribal, ancient together with modern world, Orlando Peterson clearly postulates different forms of internal dynamics that are related to slavery, this takes place in sixty six different societies over a given time frame.
The narrative that was done by Equiano clearly borrows various aspects from the autobiography associated with Puritan spiritual together with the narratives that tend to put much focus on issues related to Indian captivity. Phyllis Wheately on the other hand, clearly attributes to quite a number of operations associated with divine providence all the blessings that are related other captivity life bondage together with the limited freedom that she was exposed to. Moreover, slavery has been clearly shown to be a major form of parasitic relationship that is capable of taking place between two different parties which mainly include the master together with the slave.
Additionally, when talking about social death, this is a condition that is likely to be encountered by different personalities most so the ones who are not accepted to be full humans by the entire society. In most occasions, it is a term that is always common to various sociologists together with different types of slavery historians with an intention of giving a clear description of a particular part that is known to be played by both the governmental and social segregation in relation to the entire process. At the same time, social death is likely to take place under different circumstances which includes racial and gender exclusion, different persecution conditions and also slavery. Additionally, there is also the exclusion of a certain group of individuals from the society with the help of the government; this also presents conditions that are related to social death. Finally, there is also the segregation of different personalities who have been closely labeled with mental illness conditions. Orlando tries to argue that the phenomenon that is associated with slavery conditions in form of an institution appears to be a single recruitment process, incorporation of the entire society’s margin and an eventual death related condition. In his book, Peterson clearly rejects the entire legalistic Rona concept that is able to fully recognize issues pertaining slave to be a property right at the core of the entire system.
Orlando Peterson was able to clearly document quite a number of his findings in a well-documented book. He begins by providing one of the most fundamental definitions of slavery where he clearly states that it is among the extreme conditions of the entire domination relation that is capable of approaching different limit levels of total power. This tends to take place from the viewpoint of a given master and at the same time it occurs in the total powerlessness right from the viewpoint of a particular type of slave. Moreover, issues related to social death was known to be having both the internal and external consequences most so to the enslaved personalities. This therefore led towards a change in their views of themselves together with the way they were all seen by the entire society. Due to this, both slavery and social death can always be linked in all forms of civilization including the ones where different conditions of slavery existed before.
The start of social death is known to be coming right from the initial process that entails enslavement where there is a high probability that it emerged from the battle capture. This is a condition that involved a captive being spared from different forms of death conditions only to be created a slave. Nevertheless, this appeared to be a conditional form of commutation because death was only capable of being suspended in as much as a particular slave was capable of submitting to a particular powerlessness condition. As a result, the entire pardon from death is something that was replaced by what was regarded as social death. In most occasions, it could be encountered in a physical or psychological manner. Externally, a good number of slaves would actually encounter the loss of all their identities as a result of such practices that clearly involved name replacements thus being branded in order to clearly indicate what is entailed within their social condition levels. Moreover, they were also provided a certain type of dress code that was able to adequately distinguish them as slaves from the entire public.
In general, these were acts that were able to alienate these slaves from their original identities and as a result, it clearly portrayed that they had indeed lost their freedom and power together with their total dependency of the will of their respective maters. Moreover, the entire psychological process attached to social death majorly involved the effects that were brought about as a result of rejection as members belonging to the society thereby becoming isolated through their loss of heritage.
As a conclusion, the theory of slavery as a social death is therefore capable of viewing slaver under different angles by trying as much as possible to connect it with different issues that are taking place within the surrounding environment. It therefore tries to prove that there exist quite a number of relationships between slavery and social death and as a result, this is likely to lead towards the emergence of certain consequences within the society.
