Cast Down: Abjection in America, 1700-1850

Transatlantic Protestant discourses of abjection engaged with, and furthered the development of, concepts of race and sexuality

Derived from the Latin abiectus, literally meaning "thrown or cast down," "abjection" names the condition of being servile, wretched, or contemptible. In Western religious tradition, to be abject is to submit to bodily suffering or psychological mortification for the good of the soul. In Cast Down: Abjection in America, 1700-1850, Mark J. Miller argues that transatl...