Faculty Spotlight - Mary Hicks, Spring 2023

The interview for this quarter’s Faculty Spotlight features Mary Hicks, Assistant Professor of History and the College. She joined the faculty at UChicago in 2021 after having taught at Amherst College for six years. 

Her exciting research focuses on the history of slavery and capitalism, and she recently completed her first monograph, Captive Cosmopolitans: Black Mariners and the World of South Atlantic Slavery, 1721-1835, with The University of North Carolina Press, due for publication later this year. Although Captive Cosmopolitans is yet to be released, she has already offered talks on the book at Stanford Humanities Center, The University of Illinois, Urbana – Champaign, and The Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard. She also is the recipient of numerous fellowships and grants and is a member of the Women Also Know History network, which “promotes and supports the work of historians who identify as women or non-binary.” 

To learn more about her work, teaching, and time in Chicago, please read on!

What projects are you currently working on? What is most exciting about them?

I am currently working a several projects. One is an article tracing the intellectual history of the idea that slavery was capitalist. Largely inspired by the work of one of my mentors, Joseph Miller, in it I try to explore how historians of slavery can productively incorporate Marxist analysis of capitalism into the theoretical and methodological basis of their own research, while also using their findings to question some of the broader narratives about how capitalism developed. 

Similarly, a longer piece explores how the transatlantic slave trade was financed over a long period (nearly 500 years). The key argument of that piece is that like many other branches of commerce, the transatlantic slave trade was a site of profound financial innovation, but of course at great human cost. 

I am also beginning a new manuscript project which attempts to understand how characterizations of Black womanhood, beginning in the 15th century legitimized Atlantic slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. I am very much interested in this project because it will allow me to explore archives both new and familiar. Like my last book, it is an expansive project that will take me to Lisbon, Rome and West Africa. Plus, it will move my work onto a new theoretical terrain, which is always exciting because it means I will be able to engage a new set of scholars and their ideas.

Can you give us a brief preview description of your forthcoming book, Captive Cosmopolitans: Black Mariners and the World of South Atlantic Slavery, 1721-1835?

My forthcoming book explores the lives of enslaved and freed mariners in the 18th and 19th century Atlantic, particularly as they navigated between Salvador, Brazil and the Bight of Benin, in West Africa. I argue that black mariners were extremely prevalent in the South Atlantic, and that they were critical actors in the Portuguese empire's merchant capitalist project and the Bahian slave trade more broadly. The title itself refers to the unique subjectivity of these men. They were both captives, that is legally enslaved, while also being highly mobile, multilingual, and commercially active. In essence they were extremely sophisticated, though they were held in bondage by their owners. In the context of colonial Brazil, their cosmopolitanism became a commercial asset for their owners, as their seamen's skills made them money as they could be paid higher wages. At the same time, the ability to operate in the distinctive milieus of Brazil and West Africa enabled black mariners to influence various dimensions of life on land, such as medical practice, emancipatory law, material culture, and religious expression. 

I understand you were part of the expert panel on the Netflix series “African Queens: Njinga.” What would you highlight about the series? How did you come to be involved with it?

That was a very interesting experience. The producers of the show contacted me out of the blue. They told me they were making a series about African queens throughout history and that it would be produced by Jada Pinkett Smith. I was surprised, but also excited because African history is rarely represented on screen for American audiences. 

The series offers a mix of expert commentary by a number of scholars, including Cécile Fromont who used to teach at UChicago, and dramatic scenes involving actors. I was especially intrigued by how they would depict Queen Njinga. She's a figure who has been subject to such a wide range of characterizations, from anti-colonial freedom fighter in the modern Angolan imaginary, to terrifying "barbarian" from the Portuguese colonial perspective. She was an amazingly commanding and intelligent person, who lived an incredibly dramatic and influential life. 

I'm just happy I got to be a part of bringing that to the screen. For the show, I had several meetings to consult on aspects of the storytelling, and last summer I filmed an interview which is featured in the final series. I really enjoyed just seeing how they translated the material world of Ndongo to modern audiences, and of course I was captivated by the performance by the lead actress, Adesuwa Oni.

What are some courses you’ve recently taught and what are you most looking forward to teaching next year?

I've taught a range of courses here. I regularly teach the Latin American Civilizations II course, which is open to all undergraduates. As well as another introductory course for students interested in transnational black history called Power and Resistance in the Black Atlantic. It's the course I've been teaching the longest, and one I really love as it traces all the major events in the early modern black world from the transatlantic slave trade to the Haitian Revolution. I also have offered Gendering Slavery, and upper-level course which explores how scholars have reinterpreted slavery through the lens of gender analysis. I taught The Age of Emancipation this year, which is about how Black people throughout the diaspora contested slavery and experienced its end. The key themes for that course are the nature of Black politics in the 19th century, as well as transformations in Black labor. Also, I am teaching graduate colloquium on Atlantic Slavery which covers the major debates and innovations happening it what is a very vibrant field of historical inquiry. 

What do you enjoy the most about being at University of Chicago?

I really appreciate how seriously everyone takes ideas here. UChicago is a highly intellectual place. In every academic event and class I've been a part of, people really enjoy methodically and rigorously thinking through complex ideas together. It's a great academic community.

And, finally, just for fun, what do you enjoy most about the city of Chicago?

Chicago is a great city. I love the food culture here, especially how many amazing Latin American places there are, everything from Mexican to Peruvian. I also love the museums, art, dance and music, of course. Pretty much any form of expression you are into, there is a great venue to see it in, not to mention the exciting range of artists who come here to present their work.