Africa’s Indian Ocean in Yvette Christiansë’s "Unconfessed"

Authors

Maria Olaussen

Abstract

Yvette Christianë’s novel Unconfessed approaches the history of slavery at the Cape through the story of Sila, a slave woman incarcerated on Robben Island for the murder of her son Baro. The author’s note at the end of the novel places the narrative within a context of the colonial archive in the form of court records which contain the information that Sila was sentenced to death in 1823 but discovered in a Cape Town gaol by the Superintendent of Police for the Cape Colony in 1825. She was subsequently moved to Robben Island and, through the intervention of the Superintendent, granted a full pardon.

Recommended Citation

Olaussen, Maria, Africa’s Indian Ocean in Yvette Christiansë’s "Unconfessed", Kunapipi, 34(1), 2012.
Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol34/iss1/11